Life Story Override!
by Kerberos314
Summary: "Just what the hell do you want with me!" She stared down the back of her scissor blade at the cloaked stranger who smirked under his hood. "I've come a long way... and I'm here to return this to you!" "Senketsu! Why are you being worn by this blond dude!" "Just get me out of this things already!"
1. One Thing Never Changed

**Because… I CANNOT AND WILL NOT BE STOPPED!**

 **Another idea that I've been mulling around in my head and another candidate for a full-length fic. There really aren't enough of these crossovers out there (And frankly, really not enough of Kill la Kill fics in general, at least not good ones). There are exceptions, however, and if you are reading this and not aware of them, I suggest you take a look. They're not hard to find.**

 **Also keep an eye out for a RWBY x KilllaKill crossover as well. Because let's face it: Ruby would be hilarious paired up with Senketsu. Not sure which way to go with that one though, so it might be a while.**

 **So of course, it does base its concept on a couple of other fics already out there. So what I have to offer mainly is that if you actually like it, I will actually update it. And for those of you who know me, you know that I never go back on my word (whether or not that's good or not, I have yet to determine).**

* * *

 **Summary: As Senketsu's threads burn up protecting Ryῡko from the intense friction of atmospheric reentry, the heat carries them into stratosphere, where solar winds pick them up and scatter them to the cosmos.**

 **In what seems like centuries, but in reality, is only a few months' time as Senketsu's parts accelerate to near-lightspeed. He is shot across the universe and somehow winds up falling into another gravity well, where this time he descends to the surface as gentle as a leaf, somehow reformed after all that time adrift.**

 **While time passes back on Earth, everyone else tries to move on with their lives. But this is easier said than done for the young heroine, who refuses to give up hope of seeing her friend once again because of a niggling feeling that she can't seem to shake. But soon enough, graduation day arrives. The day when they all say goodbye to Honnouji Academy and perhaps one another forever.**

 **But who is this mysterious stranger coming to interrupt this most prestigious occasion? And why can't these students just go through normal drama in peace?**

* * *

Graduation day.

Beautiful, as the brilliant sun shone down on the hardpacked field inside the castle-like walls, whitewashed surfaces shouting confidently in every direction across the seas, that here, a proud occasion was about to transpire.

She'd never thought she'd live to see this day. Actually, to be fair, she hadn't given it much thought in the first place, having even forgotten she'd been officially enrolled in Honnouji Academy before the shit hit the fan with alien lifeforms disguised in everyday garments trying to consume the world, and even before that when she tried to beat the truth about her deceased father from the student council president who later turned out to be her sister.

Today seemed kind of dull in comparison.

Satsuki Kiryuin shot her a menacing look with her characteristically sever eyebrows when she yawned during the young woman's speech. She **was** still student council president after all, and had to keep up appearances. Not that she wasn't still an ice-cold b**ch most of the time anyway.

And Ryῡko Matoi **was** still the school delinquent. At least she wasn't falling asleep on her feet like her barnacle of a friend Mako Mankanshoku who's head was only buoyed up by the massive snot-bubble ballooning from her snores. They were both just lucky Disciplinary Committee Chair Ira Gamagōri was too focused on Lady Satsuki's speech along with the veritable sea of nervous students to notice their typical slacking.

Ryῡko shot her sister a smirk which she caught out of the corner of her twitching eye. They might have been on friendlier terms than when they were trying to kill one another, but that didn't mean they always saw eye to eye. Satsuki's academy would always be a sore spot between them, especially now that every other distraction in their lives had been tied up in a neat little bow. Ryῡko saw little need to keep up the pretense of student life whilst her sister still vehemently held on to her responsibilities ingrained into her upbringing.

It was one of the things she loved about her. Things just weren't as fun when they always agreed.

Mako snapping awake was the only thing which keyed her in to the fact that Satsuki had finished her speech, and it was their turn to take center stage as they filed up one by one to receive their diplomas in front of what seemed to be the entire population of the city built around the fortified school.

It wasn't hard to spot Mankanshoku's family amongst the sea of human flotsam, sticking out like a sore thumb with a tacky billboard sign which cheered on both their daughter and Ryῡko, whilst simultaneously advertising their back-alley medical services.

She smiled brightly at the animated family, and waved shyly as Guts- the family dog- backflipped off of Mataro's head in a cheerleading maneuver complete with puppy-sized pompoms the destitute family had secured from god-knew-where.

She was so lucky to have such a welcoming surrogate family which took her in without a second thought literally on her first night in town. But still, just then, she couldn't help but lust wistfully after the idea of a family of her own- normal, loving, and alive.

Though she was still damned glad her biological mother was dead, eviscerated by her own hand in the vacuum of space.

Satsuki shot her a knowing look as she took her place in line (Student council president or no, she still had to follow the rules!), and Ryῡko felt a momentary pang of guilt for those selfish feelings. Her sister still didn't have anything close to that sort of relationship, and had dealt with their mother her entire life before her timely death by their combined efforts.

But if it affected her in any way, be it known that Satsuki-sama would never let it show! She strutted to her place in line like the arrogant princess she had been before everything had changed, the resilient persona impeccably emplaced and able to fool all but her blood relative that she was still entirely in control of her life's direction.

Ryῡko shot her a soft smile and reached out to brush her hand as she passed, earning her another arrogant huff and an upturned nose for her efforts. But immediately after she had passed, Ryῡko knew that her sister donned a cautious smile of her own as she approached the rest of the club presidents waiting for her in focused attention.

She sighed and looked away as the line inched forward amidst the resounding applause, carefully ignoring the faux-lackadaisical smile of her homeroom professor, one Aikuro Mikisugi (why the hell was he even there?! He had long since been routed as a spy for Nudist Beach and she assumed dismissed outright even before he had plowed _Naked Sol_ into the Academy's wall).

Everyone was there it seemed. She even caught a glimpse of a red mohawk peeking out amongst the crowd. It was supposed to be a happy day, and yet it wasn't.

It all just felt pathetic, artificial, hollow. Empty, without her most important friend at her side. The loose, flowing robes so gaudy as to be stifling (not to mention itchy as hell, much like every other garment she had tried to wear after being used to Life-Fibers for so long).

She felt disconnected, removed from this idealistic scene. It was almost like a play, and she, merely a supporting actor in front of all those crowds which were more like a laugh-track than an actual audience.

 _Senketsu…_

Now she was all that remained of the once dominant race of extraterrestrials, the living threads still pulsating with every muscle twitch, still thrumming with every beat of her immortal heart.

She felt so alone.

Explosions in Honnouji Academy were so routine as to be a part of the de rigueur, and under any normal circumstances no one would bat an eye if one or two students were violently 'disciplined' to within an inch of their lives (even after the threat posed by Life-Fibers had vanished, the militaristic dominance of the school remained so long as it's student council president had anything to say about it). But graduation day was as sacred a day as any, including 'No Late Day'. And unlike the former, it was important enough that it warranted better dress than one's pajamas.

Disruptions, needless to say, would not be tolerated.

"WHO DARES TO INTERRUPT THE MOST IMPORTANT DAY IN EVERY YOUNG STUDENT'S LIFE?! YOU SHALL FACE THE WRATH OF DISCIPLINARY COMMITY CHAIR: GAMAGŌRI IRA!"

HEAD OF DISCIPLINARY COMMITY:

GAMAGŌRI IRA

TWICE THE MASCHOCISM, NONE OF THE YOUTH

Gamagōri's massive girth dwarfed the shocked throngs of people who scattered to either side of the blast, and totally blocked Ryῡko's view of the interloper.

She sighed heavily, lamenting how she could never once have a normal day without something turning it on its head. Inside, though, she was cheering the sidelining to this drudgery.

"REMOVE YOURSELF AT ONCE FROM THIS ACADEMY AND LADY SATSUKI'S PRESENCE, OR I SHALL BE FORCED TO DO SO FOR YOU!"

His voice echoed clearly throughout the arena without a microphone so that all the gawking students could hear every word that was being said even without seeing the disturbance for themselves behind the ring of spectators nervously flocking to the intriguing confrontation.

"Urusai…"

The response was a whisper in comparison, though the terrific acoustics in the Academy's courtyard made certain that they were heard by everyone (seriously, the designer of that school should either get a medal for his work or a prison sentence).

Students and parents alike gasped in horror at the blatant disrespect to one of the most fearsome (even without his Goku uniform) people in the Tri-City region. Never had they seen such impudence since the arrival of the former transfer student who was coincidentally currently watching with a curiously cocked eyebrow under her shock-orange bang.

Gamagōri growled menacingly, which was nothing compared to the bug-eyed stare he was surely hammering down upon the stranger on the other side of his bulk. Whoever it was, was no doubt being crushed under the sheer pressure of the man's burning irritation, even though his only spoken word had been tensioned with only impatience.

"VERY WELL! YOU SHALL PAY FOR YOUR IMPERTINENCE WITH YOUR LIFE!"

The crowd scrambled to get away from the danger zone as the massive man sprung into action, wrecking-ball fist cocked back as he leapt at the shadowed figure.

Screams echoed throughout the courtyard as the impact caved in the hard-packed earth and the shockwave rattled the reinforced concrete walls. Even the students up at the podium felt the back blast ruffle their gowns, and Ryῡko found herself smirking in delight at the show of unadulterated strength from the man even without any augmentation, proud that she herself had held her own against so strong an opponent.

"You…" As the dust settled and the wind died down, they were all surprised to hear that soft and undeterred voice speak up from the impact zone. "…are in my way."

Gamagōri seemed to be struggling with something under his fist. It was inconceivable that his shaking spine was due to fear of the person on the other end of his attack.

But as inconceivable as that was, it was even more impossible what happened next, as suddenly the hunched-over hulk of muscle was sent rocketing back into the stands, where blindsided students were too shocked to get away in time before his mammoth body caved in the risers and went tumbling into the school building behind.

While everyone else's eyes were agape looking at the sitzmark profile where Gamagōri had sunk into the wall, Ryῡko was eyeing the interloper with anxious anticipation.

His unassuming profile was almost completely covered in a tattered brown cloak, much like the one she had adopted when hiding her body back when she was ashamed of exposing it with Senketsu's risqué cut. The only thing visible apart from the man's (for it was clearly that, based on the way the cloak clung to his square shoulders) dirty feet bound in sandals which were falling apart at the seams, was his bandaged right arm extending from the garment. Steam was still wafting off his palm from where it had plunged into the Disciplinary Chair's gut.

And even though the shadows from his hood hid his face apart from the barest hint of a sharp and pale chin, she could tell he was looking right at her.

"I'M LOOKING FOR RYŪKO MATOI!"

He needn't have yelled, for the entire stadium was already shocked into abject silence so that one might have heard a pin drop. But his elevated voice did accomplish two things in that it sent shivers down Ryῡko's spine, and caused the rest of the Elite Four along with her sister to take up defensive positions in front of her, cumbersome gowns tossed to the side to reveal their normal combat uniforms underneath.

"What do you want with Matoi?!" Satsuki asked forthright, not bothering with her usual proprieties and tensing her hands around Bakuzan's children blades: Gako and Kōryῡ.

"That's between me and her…" Though there was plenty of anger behind the difference, the accused woman thought she heard the barest hint of embarrassment coming from the cloaked figure.

"If you want to hurt my sister, you'll have to get through me!" Satsuki asserted to the surprise of both her sister and apparently the stranger.

"Yeah! And if you want to even think about facing Satsuki-chan, you'll have to get through us first!"

ELITE FOUR (Three) STUDENT COUNCIL

NONON JAKUZURE

UZU SANAGEYAMA

HOUKA INUMUTA

THE BAD SIDE OF THE BREAKFAST CLUB

Undeterred by their compatriot's easy demise, the three other members of the Elite Four brandished their weapons at her side, fierce determination on each and every one of their faces.

Ryῡko could tell that the man was frowning behind his hood, and felt herself adopt that dissatisfied expression as well, not knowing what he was thinking at that moment. From what he had displayed thus far, the other three, and perhaps even Satsuki herself stood little to no chance of defeating him if he had indeed come to do them harm. But somehow, she didn't get that sense from him, and so stepped forward with her own hard-won confidence.

"Ryῡko-!" Satsuki shot a glance as she walked up next to her. Ryῡko stayed her sister with a steady hand and a serious look on her face which the Kiryuin recognized from her own determined bearing.

"If it's me he wants, who am I to deny him?" She gave the stranger a menacing grin which showed off her sharp canines and the half-crazed glint in her eyes, as if the gear-like irises were grinding into motion. "Mako!"

"Hai!"

The girl, always eager to please, had somehow already retrieved the guitar case which housed both halves of the scissor blade and chucked it at her bestie who plucked the two basket-hilts from mid-air as the case opened up in flight.

Though she didn't think the man really wanted to do her harm, he did just blow away one of the Elite Four like he was nothing. She also wasn't about to take any chances after dealing with the Life-Fibers the first time, plus knowing that more were still floating around aimlessly in the universe set her particularly on edge.

She had never noticed a difference before, always being surrounded by their disguised presence. But now, being the only example of such life on Earth, she began to realize that she was getting the same vibe from this man that she did when confronting the Goku uniforms, not to mention Ragyo Kiryuin.

She took a step out past her comrades and with a tornado of motion, shredded her ceremonial gown. And with the well-placed application of her body's imbued Life-Fibers, stitched herself a battle-garment from the pieces.

Behind her, the Elite Four couldn't help the exasperated sweat drop forming on each of their brows.

"That's awfully revealing…"

Ryῡko's clenched eyes twitched amidst an embarrassed blush, seeing as she unwittingly tailored herself a garment not dissimilar to Senketsu's old cut out of habit and instinct. Plowing past this brief flash of mortification (she had long since come to terms with her body), she returned to address the mysterious man who had shown little surprise at her quick change, glaring down the original half of her scissor blade at his unflinching exterior.

"So, you are Ryῡko Matoi…" He drawled, and she got the sense that he had long since known this.

"Yeah, and what of it?" She ground out, not showing the trepidation she had buried deep within at the possibility she would have to confront a Kamui without one of her own. "Are you going to tell me what you want from me, or am I going to have to beat it out of you?"

The man smirked for a brief second, before the irritated scowl returned on his exposed features. The young woman shivered for that quick flash, as she thought she caught a hint of bestial scars and fangs jutting out from the man's bottom lip, and began to question what she was getting into.

"I have come a very long way, Matoi-san, so you are going to have to forgive my rudeness."

She scoffed before cocking her blade back, making it known she wasn't going to indulge idle chatter for long if he wasn't going to reveal his purpose.

"I am here…"

All five of them tensed, and the crowd which was split between fleeing out the front gates and placing bets on the sidelines also froze in anticipation when the stranger's bandaged arm reached out and grabbed a wad of the threadbare cloak.

"…to make sure that…"

Ryῡko felt the sweat slough off her brow, ready to pounce the moment it touched the ground. But as the man's arm whipped to the side and wrenched off the swaddled garment with an almighty rip, she lost all initiative and nearly dropped her weapons in shock of what she saw. Or rather, _whom_ she saw on _who_.

"…you TAKE BACK YOUR STUPID SAILOR'S OUTFIT!"

"… _Senketsu?!"_

….

* * *

ARTIFICAL KAMUI

SENKETSU

THE ULTIMATE IN SEXY BATTLE GARB

And

KYŪBI no JINCHŪRIKI

UZUMAKI NARUTO

DOESN'T LOOK HALF BAD IN WOMEN's CLOTHING

* * *

… **One of these days someone is going to kill me. Please let it be sexy decapitation mode.**


	2. Talk of the Town

"Fascinating…"

Naruto tried not to squirm under the inquisitive gaze of the blue-haired teen who reminded him a little _too_ much of Kabuto. Information about him **he** didn't even know (and for sanity's sake probably **didn't** want to know) sprouted out of the electrodes hooked all over his body and flashed by the reflections in the scientist's glasses.

He tried looking elsewhere- anywhere around the unfriendly and dimly-lit room that wasn't filled with glowing computer screens and incessantly clacking keyboards that were like a woodpecker to his brain.

Cringing, he wished he hadn't.

The room's only other occupants were far less curious about the newcomer and far more open with their hostile tendencies. To be fair, he had been a little short-tempered with them when he finally arrived on this planet, the long journey not conducive to his patience so long as he was forced to wear that mortifying outfit. So he supposed he could indulge their animosity for a bit.

After all, it wasn't like he wasn't used to it.

What he wasn't used to, and frankly couldn't fathom was the way the living garment's previous owner stared at him from her shaded corner at the back of the room. He could only bring himself to look at her for snippets at a time, but even in those dark flashes could read the emotive teen's face like an open book. And yet, the story may as well have been in a foreign language, its magic realism trying to drown him with unshed tears.

While the 'dog' reminded him of Kabuto, this so named 'Matoi Ryῡko' harkened a combination of Sakura at that 'time of the month', but also strangely enough, her polar opposite Hinata. The minute quiver in her eyes was as unreadable to him as the crimson blush on the Hy ga princess's cheeks. Both indicating an impossibility. An emotion he only ever knew from introspection.

She was looking at him with love, bitter and nostalgic.

No, not him. _Senketsu_.

That garment he still wore meant more to her than perhaps all Naruto's companions did combine. How could he not see it?

" _S-Sentketsu?! Is that really you?"_

" _Hai." Naruto felt the cloth vibrate around his tensed muscles like a massage chair, but knew the sentient cloth was on the verge of tears, if such creatures could actually cry. "It's… been a while."_

 _Humans, Naruto knew, had no such disabilities. And yet Ryῡko held her own sorrow behind a clenched fist, the fabled scissor blade quivering in her hand like a gauge needle about to burst._

" _Yeah… it really has, hasn't it?" She gave a laugh which was halfway to a choked sob. "So, what made you come back? You think I'd still wear you after all this time?"_

" _You've grown, Ryῡko." Naruto squirmed under the awkward feeling of listening to something he shouldn't (but also the awkward feeling of being the center of attention in such a skimpy outfit). "But I'm sure you could lose enough weight to fit me again…"_

 _While trying respectfully to ignore the reunion, Naruto froze at that seemingly offhanded remark. His previous vindictive strength which caused him to barge in on their ceremony fled in the face of a scorned woman who was showing all the signs of being one second away from ridding herself from the source of her ire. He was tempted to run and cower under a rock somewhere on the many islands he had seen from space, if only the obstinate and oblivious outfit hadn't refused to move from the most dangerous spot in the Academic city, if not the entire world._

" _Baka…" He did the only thing he could do, and gulped as he swore he heard the legendarily unbreakable weapons groan under the strain._

" _DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I MISSED YOU?!"_

" _I'M SO SORRY, RYŪKO! I NEVER MEANT TO LEAVE YOU!"_

 _Naruto was less than happy. Sure, he did indeed find out that yes, the living costume could indeed cry, and in fact cascade a waterfall of the salty liquid from its functional lapels. It wasn't made any better by the young woman who was busy trying to drown him with her own waterworks while she embraced her long-lost friend with all her strength to prevent the cosmic forces from tearing them apart again._

 _And yes, he did survive. But despite what one may think, he did not enjoy this otherwise enviable position for the simple fact that not enough blood could circulate through his body to form a coherent thought. Everything from the waist down being constricted by the two arms groping around his midsection. And he was now very much certain he had heard something break, though with everything in excruciating pain he had a hard time telling what, exactly._

 _Though she did let go before he passed out, he was given no reprieve from misfortune as she then began trying to forcibly remove the protesting suit from his body, using his head, stomach and other sensitive areas as footholds while trying to wrench the seams free from his flesh._

 _And the thing was, he couldn't fault her. He even tried helping._

 _While Satsuki dearly loved her recently reunited sibling and was in fact overjoyed at the return of that dear comrade and friend, there were times when the childish nature of the delinquent girl tested her patience._

" _Satsuki-sama?" Her pink-haired subordinate inquired hesitantly, the rest of the abbreviated four on her coattails. "Um… what, if anything, should we be doing?"_

 _Jakuzure flinched back as she saw her friend and leader's distinguished eyebrows twitch in restrained fury._

" _Gamagōri…" She all but whispered to the confusion of the other three who clearly saw the large man go flying._

" _HAI! HOW MAY I BE OF SERVICE LADY SATSUKI?!"_

 _The rest were nearly bowled over as the very devil flashed next to them, seemingly worse for the wear but also clearly intending to show that duty superseded personal discomfort. For her part, Satsuki took the sudden appearance in her usual, cool stride._

" _I need someone to continue the ceremony. It seems like the rest of us will have our hands full dealing with our guest…."_

 _As if sensing he was being talked about, Naruto briefly stopped flailing about, trying to rid himself of the clingy garment, and placed a forceful hand on the female parasite's face to prevent her from doing the same._

" _OI! WHAT ARE ALL YOU GUYS STANDING AROUND FOR? HELP US GET THIS THING OFF!"_

"So have you figured out why what's-his-face can't remove Senketsu?" The green-haired wanabe samurai leaned over the computer geek's shoulder to inspect him with his curiously sharp eyes.

"I have a name, you know!"

Although in all fairness he had not bothered to remember their introductions either, the only ones he could pick out of a lineup being Ryῡko and her friend, that Mako girl, because Senketsu jabbered on endlessly about them.

"Hmm… I'm rather more surprised he could even put a Kamui _on_ , let alone have problems taking it _off._ " Glasses stated distractedly as his eyes flittered back and forth absorbing information in at an exponential rate. "Unlike Ryῡko, Uzumaki-san does not posses any life-fibers in his body. However…"

"What is it, Inumuta?" Ryῡko's sister, the one in the white military-esque garb commanded while making it sound like a question.

He actually did manage remember Satsuki's name, if only because he couldn't bother to come up with another obvious nickname, 'Bushy-Brows' still being in use.

"I'm not quite sure…" The techie eschewed while he clacked a few more keys that were meaningful only to him. "…but I don't think he's quite human. Are you, Uzumaki-san?"

Naruto smirked in anticipation of the bombshell he was about to drop on these schoolkids.

"Nah, not really. At least, not by your standards."

"I see. Could you elaborate?" Despite the dissecting vibe he got from glasses, he actually liked how the guy indulged him, either intentionally or by accident.

"Well, I guess in your guys's perspective I'm an alien."

The room went silent with that revelation, and not even the snide little girl with the pink hair who could be Sakura's little sister had anything to say. He was just waiting for the thought to be fully processed into all of their heads before he would sit back and watch them explode-

"And?"

He blinked.

"Seriously? Not even a raised eyebrow?" Once again, the glasses-wearing dog catered to his childish whim whilst everyone else gazed stoically at him like he'd given a wrong answer on a verbal exam.

"I take it then, that you do not know about Life-Fibers." Inumuta stated as he pushed his glasses further up on his face and gazed down at Senketsu who was silently watching the whole interrogation with mute interest.

"Kinda," Naruto looked away, telling himself that his chagrin was due to the intense scrutiny of his scantily-clad body and not his obvious ignorance. "Senketsu did try to tell me about them-well, him."

"You can talk to Senketsu?" Ryῡko spoke up for the first time since trying to molest/kill him.

She had been extremely taciturn ever since, a behavior that Naruto could infer from the people around her which was not characteristic of the girl. He tried to find empathy for what she must be going through, but the situation was just too different for him to understand what must be playing through her head.

And he wasn't talking about world-dominating alien threads and talking sailor suits, either.

He didn't want to dislike her, and maybe in another life they could have been friends.

"Hai." Naruto nodded directly at the dark patch where two toothy eyes drilling through him from the darkness.

"Well, you not being from this world _would_ explain quite a bit." Inumuta shattered the glass tunnel which had bridged across them for that brief moment, shifting the conversation off his own ignorance to the impossible data he was receiving. "I'm afraid that you're going to need to tell us a little more about yourself, as your biology is quite different than what I am used to."

Naruto nodded in acquiescence, though caught how the every-stern Satsuki (seriously, she could be Sasuke's long-lost sister or cousin or something!) narrowed her eyes with her underling's admission. Her slit eyes hiding the worried calculations and conspiracies which promised him nothing but trouble.

When telling his past, he didn't know what to expect after their nonplussed attitude the first time around. He himself had seen his fair share of weird shit, and so it was easy enough to accept that these similarly-aged individuals had as well. With only one or two interruptions by the ever-curious Inumuta, and a few disbelieving looks by Satsuki (but with her sternness, it was hard to tell much of a change anyway), they accepted his life story easily enough.

Tactfully edited, of course.

He could tell they weren't sharing everything with him, and even though he was all but naked in front of them (seriously, why couldn't they give him like a hospital gown or something?) he didn't feel like revealing **all** his secrets just yet.

"So…" Naruto drawled, glancing around the room at people settled into arm chairs, couches and other, more informal roosts, before finally settling his gaze back on the information-whore who was still on the edge of his seat. "Any ideas?"

Where to begin? Underneath that blue mop of hair, synapses were cracking like fireworks, and the dog was overwhelmed with the all stimuli bombarding him from every angle. It was… information overload.

"Oi!"

Naruto had to dive out of his chair in order to catch the catatonic young man before he toppled over into his lap. The others lazily stirred from their own reclines and marveled at his reaction speed, watching as he tipped Inumuta back in his seat like an antique vase.

"Come on! You can't fall asleep on me! You're supposed to be the guy that can help me out!"

"I don't think we're going to get much more use out of the puppy today." Bubble-gum snarked, and he could tell she was laughing at the both of their misfortunes.

"But-but-but-but-!"

"The Garden-snake's right." Samurai-punk ignored the facetious look of shock on her face due to him agreeing with her, as he plucked the blue-haired boy from his seat and carried him under his arm like a briefcase. "Just give his brain some time to chew on this for a little bit. You've given us quite a bit to think about as well, and while I'm sure Lady-Satsuki will come up with something it'll still take time. After all, Tokyo wasn't built in a day."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?!" Naruto yelled in exasperation before turning to everyone else in the room in turn with a pleading (deranged) expression on his face.

He couldn't understand why everyone whose gaze he held looked at him with such indifference. How could they resist his dreaded Puppy-Eye-no-Jutsu?! Sure, he didn't expect much from Satsuki, or Pinkie, for that matter. Inumuta was unavailable and the Jolly-Green-Samurai already had his back turned. But surely Ryῡko-

She paused in the doorway next to her sister, only to look back at his hangdog act with the first expression he couldn't begin to disassemble. Her eyes, those strange mechanical chemistries grinding past his outstretched arms and into the immutable pattern of Senketsu. She looked like she wanted to say something, mouth cracked and hymnal versus ready to flow freely.

But then it snapped shut like a guillotine, and those unflinching eyes steam-rolled over him with ridges and runnels masticating his every attempt at reason.

"I swear…" Her voice was gritty and laced with such pain that he was tempted to feel sorry for her in spite of his own circumstance. "I **will** get Senketsu back from you. Even if I have to rip him off of your corpse."

He had nothing to say, nor feel, about that.

"You'll stay here tonight." Satsuki informed him with unfeeling eyes as Ryῡko turned on her heel and disappeared past the portal. "It was good that you were so forthright with us, and allowed us to run our tests without trouble. However, you are still very much a potential danger to not only this school, but the population in general. So I'm afraid that I cannot in good conscience let you roam free while still in possession of such a dangerous weapon."

She said this with the most callous voice Naruto had every heard, as if she had practiced this very speech from when she was still in diapers. The only sign of regret he could even guess that she possessed was when she referred to Senketsu as a 'weapon'. It was clear she held more respect for the garment than that, and far more for it, than him.

Nothing more said on either side, the door slammed shut with a cold clunk and the nautical bulkhead sealed down tight with a heavy squeal from without.

And Naruto was left alone in the darkness.

Well, not quite.

"I am sorry, Naruto-kun. I did not think that it would go like this."

The young man sighed but did not otherwise respond as he carefully propped himself up against the cool, coarse cement wall and crossed his arms and legs. He shivered as he stared absently at the ground, the revealing garment doing nothing to retain his otherwise abundant body heat. And not for the first time, he cursed his fickle luck.

But then let it go.

After all, it wasn't like he wasn't used to it.

…

 **So, um yeah…**

 **I get the feeling that some of you guys out there like it so far. While I appreciate that greatly, this recent update is more because I found the inspiration (and free time) rather than out of a sense of duty. I'm trying a new schedule of writing called "whenever I feel like it" as opposed to the previous deadlines I set myself.**

 **Now I know what some of you may be thinking… 'oh no, that basically means that he's just going to up and quit halfway through like everyone else'. But let me assure you, that's not who I am. For those of you who have followed me from before, you must know by now that I follow through on my promises no matter how long it takes. And so far, I think I've done a fairly good just at doing just that.**

 **So, like you, I too know the pain of having an author abandon something just when it gets good, and I will do whatever is in my power to not do that here. I cannot deny that I have taken my inspiration from some of the few other stories in this category, but at the very least I hope to deliver some substance along with an interesting premise.**

 **All in all, just know not to expect such quick turn around as the norm. I sear this is a one-time thing.**

 **I think.**

 **Oh, and just a little shoutout to all my guest reviewers from both here and other fics. I love you guys very much, but I still wish you would review with you profile so I can answer your reviews directly instead of relying on my memory when it comes down to the AN. Yeah, I know that's just me being lazy, but it's the same for you guys too. And I think author lazy trumps reader lazy.**

 **But seriously, you guys** _ **still**_ **rock.**

 **~Mañana**


	3. Room Full of Mirrors

"Could you tell us how you first came to wear Senketsu?"

Once again, that non-question confronted him like a slap in the face as he valiantly attempted not to take offence at what was essentially an accusation.

In the prolonged absence of their technical wizard, he was treated to the dubious honor of a one-on-one with the venerated 'Lady-Satsuki' (kami how he hated such pompousness). Though noticeably more relaxed with a dainty teacup in her lap, she none the less sat harshly chiseled across from him, statuesque in her pose with one leg crossed and weapons resting inconspicuously against the chair.

Did she comprehend that he could pluck those toys out from underneath her faster than she could blink? Was it a threat, or a show of trust? Was he the only one that was ignorant of what was going on behind the mirrored stare?

He nodded peacefully, ignoring the hulking Gamagōri planted behind his mistress and trying to appear fearsome, probably to intimidate the blond into revealing all his insidious secrets. But in Naruto's eyes he looked more constipated than anything else, and it was a useless gesture as Naruto had nothing to hide from these irrelevant strangers (nothing they would be interested in, anyway).

"Well, it happened something like this…"

 _He breathed heavy, arms shaking as they supported his weight on the cool grass, his hot breath rising to kiss the sweat dripping off his sullied brow._

 _How long had it been since he started? Hours? Days? Had he been spending his whole life trying to reach this apex?_

 _He shouldn't be surprised, it had taken his father an entire lifetime just to lay the foundation for what he was trying to do, and he was attempting to complete the technique in just a few short weeks. But he didn't have another option, or the luxury of time. He_ _ **had**_ _to surmount this task not only as a personal accomplishment, but because he needed all the tools he could in order to confront what awaited him._

 _But nature manipulation was far, far harder than he could have imagined, and trying to imbue his wind chakra into the Rasengan was just that- trying to lasso the breeze and confine it to a pen. He might even go as far to say that it was harder than his Sage training, the potential dangers if he should fail just about equal in consequence._

 _That didn't mean he wouldn't stop trying, though._

 _He got back up in parts, leaning back on his haunches and ambling to his feet. Dizziness assaulted him- a previously unknown feeling. He closed his eyes and took a few steadying breaths as he began to try again._

 _First he set his sights on his breathing. Tuning everything else out as he had been taught, he ignored the gay chirping of the birds who sung unhindered by his interruption. He forgot the sticky sweat rolling down his bare torso and the dirt ground into his pink skin. He blocked out the warm sun on his shoulders and the cool earth squishing in between his toes._

 _Concentrating on that invisible nexus in the center of his palm, he easily enough manifested the base stage. He held it there, held himself there in stillness as he concentrated on the feeling of it in the cup of his hand, unhurried by battle around him. Focused on the individual strands, the infinite number of them swirling around in their own little eccentric eddies and currents, preordained paths that were universally entangled and impossible to predict._

 _His breath settled. He became those strands._

 _Somewhere along the line, the compact sphere was raised above his head in order to be free of the ground and closer to the element he was trying to imbue. And also somewhere in that nigh-complete absence of thought, he began to feel._

 _He felt, everything._

 _It was not just the air above and around, but each individual particle which inhabited that concentration, and every single atom it had come into contact with. Everything was linked up in that moment of total removal, a chain-reaction which spread throughout the mundane world and into the heavens themselves, the realms of gods, the cosmos all connected through his fingertips! He felt the heartbeat of the world and summoned it to that focal point where his being temporarily resided._

 _The air coalesced in that finite space, he knew it did so, answering to his call. All that was left now was to refine it, hone those strands into blades and accelerate them past reason._

 _And that's when it all went wrong._

 _Something_ _ **else**_ _got in with the rest of it. A mere hair, a thread stuck in a propeller and wound around the axes, gunking up the mechanism and causing the engine to whine in protest. The confined energy skipped the tracks and flew out of his control._

 _He screamed. At least he assumed he did, for everything was drowned out by the screech of the technique. It was a logical assumption, though, for when he opened his eyes and stared at the shucked bone with husk of flesh peeling off from it like a gnawed chew-toy, he knew he should be in excruciating pain. But perhaps it had been too quick, the damage so deep that it removed the nerve endings from his notice. Maybe they were still out there in that quantum space, entangled into the lifeblood of the earth so that he could then feel the pulse of the universe._

 _He felt one of those thrums, at the edge of his senses._

" _I smell…."_

 _He couldn't register the words as coming from him, if he had indeed heard them at all and not supplanted them later in order to explain what happened next._

" _BLOOD!"_

 _He didn't scream this time as the black shroud swallowed him up._

"…"

And once again, Satsuki showed little reaction to his confession, only looking at his bandaged arm with a skeptical eyebrow which to him appeared ready to leap off her head and crawl up his leg to get a closer look.

"And how, do you fathom, is your arm alright now?"

"I'm a fast healer." He said, trying not to smirk at the twitch of irritation like she was now trying to keep that fuzzy caterpillar from bitch-slapping him.

"So why the bandages?" She replied with her own triumphant look poorly hidden behind the stony expression.

"To remind me," He held the wrapped appendage with his other hand, running the length of the gauzy wrappings in yearning. ", of what I almost lost."

Though they couldn't know, he wasn't talking about the mundane body part. He knew he had the living garment to thank for the renewed use of his limb, but also his subsequent victory.

But Satsuki nodded in acceptance, either understanding what was not said or taking it at face value.

"So you believe that your powers drew in Senketsu's threads from across space, and the grievous blood-loss awakened him from his dormant state." She eyed the clothing in question who blinked, perhaps indicting confirmation. She hummed despondently. "While that does answer at least a few questions, it still does not solve the mystery of why you are incapable of removing him. It is not like we have not encountered this phenomenon before, but those were very different circumstances.

"If indeed the Life-Fibers have become integrated into your body, you should have succumbed to their poisoning long ago. The fact that you are alive is a miracle to rival Senketsu's survival."

Naruto's frown deepened as he contemplated whether or not he should tell them about the _real_ reason he probably survived the ordeal. What would the Fox's influence have on the Life-Fibers, he wondered?

"As much as I hate to suggest it," He began, stirring Satsuki form her introspection. "Couldn't you just surgically remove him from me? If you have to, cut a little more from my side than his."

The garment himself looked up at his earnest expression with what might have been intrigue. What he proposed amounted to flaying him alive, and there was only one other person he knew of willing to do as much for his sake. He couldn't even begin to fathom the pain from the experience.

Neither of them knew he had gone through such a trial before.

But the (ex) Student Council President frowned and shook her head. "While I have little doubt that you could in fact survive such a procedure if what you tell us is true, if the Life-Fibers have indeed become integrated into your body, it will not only be skin deep."

Naruto mimicked her frown as he caught on to what she was suggesting. He had himself suspected that was the case, though had no means of confirming it beforehand. Even though Senketsu routinely told him that he had yet to use the outfit to his fullest potential, he nevertheless felt invigorated by the wearing of the lifeform. The fabric had touched him to his very core, and in this case, it might have been literal.

"But it also seems that you have yet to form a Life-Fiber Bond." She began again, one hand perched under her pretty chin. "Meaning that you have yet to truly 'wear' Senketsu. Which would normally mean that the two of you should be separate beings and gives me hope that the affixation isn't permanent. In fact, your proclaimed healing factor would go a long way to explaining how you are not passing out from blood loss."

Naruto chuckled. "You could say it's something I'm used to."

Satsuki declined to comment but filed this anecdote away for further reference.

The whole process seemed very patchwork to Naruto who was used to the surety of the Konoha Medical Group (though he loathed to give those sadists any credit). But in all honesty, to be fair, they hadn't been able to do anything for him either, so why should he expect anything more from these teenagers?

Though the absence of the one person who ought to know more about Life-Fibers than anyone else was conspicuous. Why, of all people, was Ryῡko not there?

Satsuki harrumphed, equally dissatisfied with the lack of hard facts. Naruto couldn't tell if her motivation was to help her sister, or if she genuinely disliked being so clueless in the situation.

"I'm afraid we'll not be able to progress much more until Inumuta recovers and is able to tell us more about the data he uncovered." She announced to both their displeasures, standing up from her chair and blindly handing her drained cup to the waiting servant who was so inoffensive that Naruto hadn't even really registered his being there.

"So what should I do in the meantime?" He asked irritably, ignoring the growls he was getting from the Disciplinary Committee Chair. "You going to continue keeping me locked up like a prisoner?"

He had stood up himself, clearly indicating that he wasn't going to tolerate a simple dismissal this time. At the very least they had fed him (and not that the food was all that bad) but he disliked being treated like a convict when his only intention was to reunite long-lost friends (and rid himself of having to wear female clothing when he wasn't in Sexy-Jutsu form).

Satsuki held a hand up, preventing Gamagōri from trying to discipline their guest and probably hurting himself in the process.

"You understand that we still have reason not to trust you." She leveled with him, at least indicating that she could understand his ire. "What can you provide to us which would assure that you wouldn't try and sabotage our efforts to remove Senketsu?" Once again, speaking like he purposefully held on to the garment out of desire for his power. "You know a little about the Life-Fibers and their motivations. How can we not assume that you are under their influence in an attempt to incite another rebellion here on Earth? You are, after all, a self-proclaimed ninja. Someone who deals in subterfuge."

"I came to you directly, didn't I?" Naruto muttered bitterly before heaving relenting sigh. "But it's not like I can't understand what you might be thinking. I admit that I have a habit of screwing up first impressions." He smiled for the first time since entering that cell, rubbing the back of his head in an innocent manner that was counter to the defensive stance all before. "But I'll also tell you that I'm not your average ninja. I have a record of being a stubborn idiot, winning people over to my side, no matter how hard it is or how long it takes."

His words spoken with such conviction, and the frankness of his entire demeanor almost made Satsuki want to believe him. He reminded her so much of her sister and Mankashoku with their twisted logic and indominable spirit.

But she was also tasked with being the reasonable one and had a duty to protect not only her family, but the school and if need be the world.

Naruto heaved another belabored sigh as his shoulder sagged, seeing he wasn't going to get of that easily.

"But again, I know you have no reason to believe me based on my word alone. In that case, why don't you ask Senketsu just what kind of guy I am?" Satsuki's eyes widened at this option, though almost immediately narrowed in her usual baseline suspicion.

"You know that the only other one who can speak with him is Ryῡko." She deferred, eyeing the outfit who stared back unflinchingly.

"So, bring her down here." Naruto smirked and folded his arms just under the sailor suit's eye, knowing he had her cornered.

"Perhaps later." She turned away completely dismissing him, much to Naruto's extreme ire.

He knew that despite not being able to talk to Senketsu, she could in fact understand what the outfit tried to convey. He could read people well enough and saw that spark of recognition for what it was. The fact that she was ignoring not only his suggestion, but her own instinct to trust him was all but unacceptable.

But he held all that in. For now.

His fist clenched tucked underneath his bicep. "Fine, but don't wait too long to make up your mind, or else I may just have to let myself out of here." He shot the back of her head a sly smirk he had mimicked from Sasuke when she failed to acknowledge his lightly veiled threat. "After all, I think it's pretty cruel to keep your sister away from her best friend."

The elitist woman didn't deign to give him a reply, and in that silence Naruto knew he won a minor victory. But as the door buckled shut once again on that empty, windowless room, not for the first time he wondered if all this effort was indeed worth it.

* * *

Ryῡko stared listlessly at the throngs of people like schools of fish swimming aimlessly in the sea of urban investment, colorful clothing shops like coral, hiding the unindividual shoppers from bigger corporate prey. She sat there in the anemone of a park-bench, ensconced in the barrier of her stinging personal disposition while her lemon-crêpe dangled untouched in her hand.

"I'm back, Ryῡko-chan!" Of course, the venerable clownfish was totally unaffected by her barbed defense and sidled up next to her with oblivious cheer.

Well, not total obviousness.

"What's the matter Ryῡko? Why are you not eating? Is your stomach upset?" She gasped in sudden realization and her shopping bags leap on her arms. "Oh! I know! You're nervous now that we're graduated and we have to find real jobs!" She nodded with clueless acuity. "Don't you worry! You can continue living in my parent's house while I go to medical school!"

This declaration temporarily broke the punkish girl out of her milieu and she questioned her hapless best friend with uncertainty.

"Medical School? Do you really thank you can handle that Mako? You didn't exactly get good grades before." She was of course assuming, as she herself had never even bothered to look at the mailed-home report cards and unashamedly torn up the ones which had been handed to her directly.

Mako giggled while hopping in her seat like she was the one who had scarfed the entire sugary treat.

"Silly Ryῡko! I don't have to get good grades in medical school! I just have to go so I can flunk out and become a back-alley doctor like my dad and take over the family business!"

The other girl just smiled and shook her head at the antics and obscene logic of her best friend, staring tentatively at the rolled confection in her hand and daring to take a nibble. She grimaced, though as her tongue came into contact with the filling. It was much too sweet for her liking.

"So anyway, you don't have to worry about finding a job even! You can just continue to live with me until we're both old and gray and Mataro and Guts will have to change our diapers and feed us until they get tired of that and kick us out to go live in an old-person's home!"

This disturbing thought cause the young woman to both shudder and smile at the intention.

"That's alright, Mako. I'm not worried about finding something to do now that we're out of school." She offered the girl the nibbled-upon desert and nodded when she pointed to herself in question before she downed it in one gulp, paper and all without further ado. The Mankanshoku's apatite was legendary, after all.

"Then what's the matter?" Mako asked as a bit of the lemon custard escaped her mouth and was slurped up by an extraordinarily prehensile tongue. "Oh! Are you worried about Senketsu?"

"Yeah." She muttered despondently with a hand on her chin. Of course she was worried about what had- what would become of her best friend.

The last time they parted, she thought it was honestly the last she would ever see of him. And in the months of his absence, she had just begun to heal the wound left when forcibly torn from him, barely starting to wear clothes that weren't blindly snatched off a shelf of pre-made garbage.

She looked down at the tight black jeans with tiger-stripe tears in the thighs with a loss that she couldn't quite explain. Senketsu had been right when he told her that every woman outgrew their sailor outfit, and now she had officially. But could one ever really outgrow their best friend? But the living fabric was more than just clothing… wasn't he? He was still defined by that stigma, and incapable of changing what he was, evolving to match the times. Just like herself.

And then there was the other matter. Senketsu's new 'owner'.

Naruto Uzumaki (if that really was his name, seriously who named their kid after ramen?) did not make a good first impression on her. It wasn't just that he barged in unannounced during their admittedly dull-as-bricks ceremony (probably something she would have done given the opportunity). No, it was something more, perhaps something he didn't even have control over.

Was she jealous? How was that even possible? It wasn't like he flaunted wearing the gender-bending outfit (she obviously looked **much** better in Senketsu than he did anyway), and he had hardly abused the necessarily intimate situation (though he hadn't made much of an attempt to disassociate himself from their heartfelt reunion). He obviously couldn't even wear Senketsu properly, as she heard direct from the horse's mouth.

So then what was it? Was it the simple fact that Senketsu **could** be worn by someone else? Hell, not even by her sister or Mako, the only other people worn by the Kamui in his lifetime, but by a totally foreign dude who had no association with her whatsoever.

Not for the first time, she wondered who this Naruto was, and what he was keeping from them.

She sighed and stood up from her temporary shelter amidst the foreign environment. "I think I'd like to go back and check up on him." She dusted off the back of her pants and yanked down on the too-large t-shirt which was already knotted up to show off her toned stomach and cute bellybutton.

"Kay!" Her enthusiastic parasite yelled as she too leapt off the wooden bench. "I've already finished my shopping, so I just have to drop off some food for mom when before we head over to the Academy!" Ryῡko nodded in acceptance, taking a gander at what substances would end up in the mystery croquettes that night. Ever since getting rid of the Life-Fibers, and all but dismantling the slavish system of Honnouji, the ingredients had become noticeably more recognizable as the lower-class family got access to better living standards.

They still tasted great, though.

"Cheer up Ryῡko-chan!" Mako hopped after her friend as they navigated the never-ending tide of shoppers. "I'm sure Satsuki-chan will find a way to fix this! Besides, Naruto promised that he would do whatever it took to get Senketsu back to you!"

Ryῡko raised a curious eyebrow at this, glancing down at her innocuous friend in wonder and trying to fathom when she would have possibly had the time to have such a conversation with the mysterious young man without her knowing it.

She hummed in contemplation, shoving her hands in the pressed-flat pockets of her form-fitting jeans and staring out past the expansive horizon. She allowed a small smile to worm its way onto her worried face.

She just chalked it up to another one of Mako's mysteries, like how she always managed to worm her way into her heart.

* * *

 **I swear, I won't be updating like this all the time. I must really hate myself (That, or I'm secretly a masochist like Gamagōri).**

 **At least I give myself a break when thinking up chapter titles. This story follows my usual patter. Any guesses as to where they come from?**


	4. Mystery Acheivement

**So good so far? A few voices speaking their approval, but I already know they're sycophants and can't be trusted.**

 **Just kidding, I love you guys and you're the reason I do this. The mostly silent majority is what spurs me forward and makes me get up in the morning. But still, like to hear from anyone just joining. Problems? Recommendations? Hate mail?**

 **On a related note, I know I haven't been replying to everyone's reviews as religiously as I used to. I have been incredibly busy as of late. So if you need to hear my words of wisdom, or just feel like you need a moving target, let me know you want a reply in the review by putting a question mark anywhere in it.**

… _.._

" _You… how dare you show yourself like this…"_

 _Naruto tried his best to control the crimson hue spreading across his entire body which had nothing to do with the demon inside his gut._

" _Are you trying to humiliate me, fighting in that getup? You only disrespect yourself and the spirit of my brother by stooping to so ignoble a tactic."_

 _He continued to remain silent despite Madara's diatribe. Both because he was completely confident in his prowess, but also because of the abject mortification he felt sealed his lips tight._

 _He was just glad the rest of his comrades weren't here to see this._

" _If you think you're so damned superior," He managed to force out his own retort at last. "why don't you try and do something about it?"_

 _The ancient being sneered in the face of the obvious taunt. But who was he to ignore destiny? He would face this prodigal child no matter how juvenile a scheme he concocted to forfeit the battle. Though it was almost disappointing how the memory of Asura was reduced to this._

" _Very well. I will show you just how out of your league you really are if you think something like this can save you. I will wipe you off the face of the Earth so completely that my brother may never have to be reincarnated again. He will never have to bear the shame of protecting such adulterous creatures, and rest forever in the pure lands."_

" _We'll just see about that! Let's do this Senketsu!" he whispered the last part to his reluctant partner and received a disembodied hum of acceptance that shook his insides and left him tingly even as his Chakra flared to fill every pore and was redoubled by the magnifying power of the Kamui."_

 _He and Madara charged at one another headlong, and the final battle had begun with a crack that shattered the heavens._

…..

"Are you still having those dreams, Naruto?"

The familiar voice filled his ears as he blinked wide-awake in the constantly dark room. He groaned as he picked himself up off the hard floor, stretching his aching muscles in the cold emptiness.

"Yeah." His voice echoed unobstructed by any furniture. "Didn't have to slog through all of it this time, though." He admitted offhandedly.

"You know that it persists because you can't let it go. Why are you so fixated on the past when you won?"

"But did I really?" He asked just as much to himself as he did Senketsu.

He did not resent the living garment as much as perhaps it seemed like he did. While he would have preferred to win on his own merit, he would admit that despite the mutual hesitancy at their forced partnership, he was glad to have someone to stick by him so thoroughly.

But again, at what cost? The bonding with the Life-Fiber being had unforetold consequences that went beyond a simple fashion faux pas. He was no longer simply Naruto Uzumaki, child of legend. He was this symbiotic being, one more soul crammed into his already overburdened body that unbalanced the natural order of things.

He felt even less like a human now than he did when constantly subjected to the stares and the names hurled in his direction. He ate like a human, he walked, talked, and breathed like a human. But there were other things he could do without. He didn't actually **need** either input or output, the latter being impossible as long as Senketsu was permanently affixed to his body. He did not live like a normal human. He sure as hell did not die like one.

"I should have died back then."

This was a statement the clothing had heard all too often and could only sigh in disappointment.

"How many times must we go through this, Naruto? You were meant to defeat that man, and my presence only hindered your development."

The being that was Senketsu felt deep shame at that knowledge, that he was little better than a lamprey feeding off Naruto's life force. Sure, he boosted the blond's strengths in his own way, but how much stronger would he be if allowed to grow at his own exponential pace?

"Don't give me that shit." Naruto growled, and Senketsu felt the blood he was constantly absorbing begin to boil. "The Kyuubi might heal me from a lot, but being lit on fire by undying flames? Being torn apart by an interdimensional portal? The only reason I came back from any of that was because you were there to pick up my pieces."

The Sailor Suit had no other words which he hadn't already rehashed infinitum already. Nothing but the last, which he could still not bring himself to say.

 _That's what friends are for._

How could he consider Naruto a friend after what he had done to him? What he had latched on to originally in his dying desperation was a genial boy, one with unbound hopes and endless courage to face the odds. His presence had slowly stripped that confidence away bit by bit, regressing the hard-won character down to the last surviving dregs. He wasn't a comrade like he had been with Ryῡko. He was a leech, sucking blood and perspicacity out from that most selfless of hosts.

And Naruto refused to begrudge him or recognize his burden.

"I'm sorry, Senketsu." The Kamui blinked, not yet comprehending the words he had been whispered. "I sorry for the way things turned out. I'm sorry you got separated from Ryῡko and ended up with a loser like me."

"What? No, Naruto you can't really mean-"

Just then the steel door slammed open to reveal the esteemed Lady Satsuki whose baseline intensity had been kicked up a notch or two.

Naruto regarded her with an emotionless mask, fully prepared to face the gallows he anticipated she was about to lead him to without fear.

It wasn't like hanging him would do much, anyway.

"Uzumaki Naruto…" She practically spat his name out, and he was more curios than intimidated by this surprising display of emotion.

"You're free to go."

"Huh?"

….

"Yes, I can say with absolute certainty that the life fibers have invaded throughout your body."

Despite being released and allowed to see the sun again for the first time in days, Naruto was still far less content than he thought he would be when he started this personal crusade to trek across the galaxy and reunite two long-lost friends.

It probably had something to do with the declaration the still-recovering Inumuta had just wheezed out. The young man having had just enough energy to pronounce that one fact before collapsing back into bed with stars in his eyes.

Although, he had also managed to produce a graphic chart before the Uzumaki had gotten there, a cheat-sheet for the non-technical surrounding the blue-haired boy.

Though if anything, the graphic made the situation seem more calamitous than the simple pronouncement had done. The red lines representing Senketsu's Life-Fibers worming their way throughout the Naruto-cutout like an ant farm, a disquieting sea of crimson emanating from his very core.

His chakra-core, that is. And of course, like he should have suspected, also right next door to the Kyuubi.

"Is this supposed to make any sense to us, Inumuta?" Green-bean asked the again unconscious youth, and Naruto felt a small swelling of pride knowing that he was at least ahead of one person in the room.

"I think it'll mean more to Uzumaki-san than to any of us." Satsuki continued to glare at him like she was still incensed about his release, and clearly expecting him to elaborate.

Rather then lord the information over them as he was tempted to do after the way they had treated him, he pursed his lips in displeasure knowing that this was not a situation to be taken lightly. He also wanted to give **them** the chance to prove they were trying to help.

"The Life-Fibers seem to be concentrated around my Chakra-core, almost like they are plants growing toward the sun." The sever woman nodded along with a few other heads in the room.

"They are most likely going towards that as a focal point of energy to absorb. Unlike our biology which has chemical energy spread throughout each individual cell, in which case the Life-Fibers quickly overwhelm our bodily functions and we just cease to operate."

Naruto nodded gravely in understanding.

"Makes sense. They're also following pretty closely along my Chakra pathways, to continue the plant analogy, much likes roots would a water-pipe." He placed his hand on his chin in concentration, surprised that his recently learned chakra theory was coming into use in this scenario. "It seems because they are seeking that power source directly, they aren't affecting my other body parts just yet. Hence why I've been able to survive for so long. However…"

He eyed the worryingly dense concentration around the seal which housed the Kyuubi but failed to notice the shrewd leader follow his line of sight.

"…If they continue growing much as they have, I have little doubt that they'll start to suck chakra directly from the source, and there's no telling how long it'll take for them to drain me dry."

Senketsu kept silent throughout all this, knowing that he had little to offer. Though now, he was without words because he realized that he was very close to killing Naruto. It was little different from how Ryῡko would often pass out from blood-loss, but in this case transforming to his base-state wouldn't help.

"I've never seen such rapid growth of Life-Fibers before in anyone but Matoi-san." A blond kid with a clear-orange (note: awesome!) sanitary mask who seemed to be almost as sharp as Inumuta commented absently while staring intently at the chart.

Perhaps too sharp.

"If it were any normal human being, you would be dead by now."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Naruto said with a snort, which entirely caused him to miss the Student Council President's subtle scrutiny.

"Six months." Satsuki stated casually, eyes trained on the cookie-cutter profile on the screen, but focus entirely on the blond mystery. "That's the maximum that was determined by both our experimentation and by Kiryuin family archives. And these 'roots' as you call them are more potent than any we've seen by a factor of ten. Is it normal for you 'shinobi' to have so much chakra?"

Naruto couldn't hide the flash of irritation at having to get so dangerously close to the truth, but knew he couldn't afford to lie, either, to the keen woman without jeopardizing the uneasy repartee he had going thus far.

"No. I have an exceptionally large amount of Chakra compared to my peers. Even when I was a kid, I had a greater capacity than some veterans." He shrugged, seeing the emboldened eyebrow raise its hand to ask another question. "Part of my still unknown heritage, I guess." Which again, was closer to the truth than he would have liked.

"I must say that your Chakra is fascinating. It must be incredibly dense. According to my calculations- and correct me if I'm wrong on this Lori (though her henchman would be hesitant to do so anyway)- but the sheer quantity of energy which can be absorbed by these life fibers would be about equivalent to 500 Gigawatt hours." This deduction she said breezily, knowing that it would probably fly over the head of the non-technical blond. "That's more than enough to power Tokyo for a year."

By now, the others in the room like a pack of dogs looked to where their Alpha was leading them, and silent but astonished looks prevailed as each crunched the numbers in their own heads (or just took her word for it).

"If we weren't already going to believe the rest of your incredible story none of this would make any sense, and I would be tempted to think you were lying to us in some way, Uzumaki."

"I think you'll find that a lot of what I do and who I am doesn't make sense." Naruto said with a confident smile but sharp gaze, totally open with that undeniable truth, but increasingly wary of the woman even though he was no longer physically under her thumb.

"Even still, I think that I'm beginning to understand a little bit more about you, Naruto-san."

His mouth opened wide to respond, but no words would come out. He was saved when the door to the infirmary opened and turned everyone's attention to the newcomer.

Or rather, he was saved from the frying pan, but not the fire underlying it.

"Oneesan, could I talk-"

Ryῡko stopped dead upon the scene she was totally unprepared to find. To her immense credit, and much to Naruto's immense relief she did not act upon her gut instinct to slug him in any one of the tempting targets presented as he stood there with mouth hanging dumbly open. She merely restrained herself to a tightly clenched fist and another one of her increasingly frequent complicated stares before she turned to her sister who was waiting with stoic apprehension to see what would unfold.

"Inumuta was awake long enough to assure us that he was telling the truth about Senketsu." Satsuki explained preemptively.

Ryῡko nodded but was obviously not satisfied as now she had no time in which to collect her thoughts and ready herself for the eventual confrontation.

During the long ride over from the mainland, she'd had time to stew about the whole situation and debate the merits of continuing her animosity towards the blond usurper. Of course, she could still blame him for stealing Senketsu away from her (she half expected him to even be okay with this), but it would make conjugal visits with her woven friend difficult, to say the least.

She loosely accepted that she'd have to play nice, for now. But that didn't make the execution any less difficult.

"In that case…can I speak to Senketsu…" Nice enough, anyway. "…alone?"

Satsuki looked very hesitant to allow her sister in the same room as the strange young man, to say nothing of her **alone** in the same room with someone who had access to a Kamui. But in the end, though she would never openly admit it, she knew her neesan to be stronger than she could ever be. And if the alien blond could take down Gamagōri with little trouble, there doubtlessly wasn't much the four of them could do to stop him.

That though didn't necessarily make her feel better, but it allowed her at least to make a decision.

She nodded curtly to both her sister and the symbiotic being in question who was also looking at her out of the corner of his eye, though never taking his attention fully away from the obviously dominant threat.

….

"I'll try to give you guys some privacy."

Naruto declared out of the blue after the laboriously long walk to an unoccupied classroom. He then proceeded to make a show of shoving his pinkies deep down into his ears and start humming rather loudly and obnoxiously, averting his eyes to the monotonous ceiling panels.

Ryῡko looked at him with revolted curiosity but then sighed. "You can cut that out." She waved him down with a lazy hand. "I know you can hear Senketsu speaking in your head anyway. Besides, I don't think there's a way to do this that doesn't concern you."

Naruto stopped humming immediately, showing that none of his efforts would have done much anyway.

"Are you sure?" He asked. "I could always talk to Mako while you catch up with Patches here."

Confused to both the nickname for Senketsu and his reference to her shadow, Ryῡko continued to stare at him in confusion before she felt an attendance at her elbow and nearly jumped out of her skin in alarm.

"Mako! What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" The tiny girl declared impishly. "I'm your bestie and Senketsu's your Sunday best, so why wouldn't I be here?"

The more mature (debatably) woman sighed in resignation, realizing the cruelty of trying to separate them now.

"Maa, maa, you can stay, just try not to upset Uzumaki here huh?" She jabbed a finger at a grinning Naruto who didn't seem to mind being addressed so unceremoniously.

"Are you kidding? Mako is great, she could never get on my nerves." Ryῡko sighed as her friend lit up at the compliment, quickly pressing forward to avoid further devolution of the conversation she was supposed to have.

"Look, I heard from Oneesan that you didn't really have much of a choice getting partnered with Senketsu, and I guess I can accept that." She crossed her arms as Naruto looked at her with a quirked eyebrow, wondering if he was about to receive an apology for her previous standoffishness. "But besides that, why did it take you so long to try and return him? I'm sure Senketsu told you about me right away, and from what I can tell it's been about eight months since you found him."

Though already used to the accusations he was getting from everybody so far that he met (bar Mako), Naruto couldn't help but feel increasingly inflamed at her nitpicking and made to rebut her right away, cutting off Senketsu whom he could feel coming to his defense.

"Excuse you? Do you even know how large space is? It took me a week just to get here at full speed once I was even able to figure out **where** to go." He crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows to match Ryῡko's posture. "And forgive me for being such a 'dunce', but in case you haven't noticed, not all of us were born to wear these things and it took me a long time to figure out how to do the flight mode."

"It's called Senketsu Shippu," Ryῡko growled as Mako flipped back and forth following the sparks that were leaping between them. "-and his name's not 'Patches' or whatever else you decided to nickname him without my permission. It's Senketsu, Fresh Blood, Mr. Ramen topping. And in case _you_ haven't noticed, I didn't exactly ask to be born a freak of nature!"

This heartfelt declaration caused Naruto's hard expression to slack as he learned something new about the confrontational young woman. Like Satsuki, he was beginning to understand a little bit more about his counterpart, and even began to empathize with her (Despite both direct and indirect insults to his name and intelligence).

"…But it's what allows me to be partnered with Senketsu." She admitted in a mousy voice, averting her gaze to the floor so that she wouldn't see the pitying expressions on either of their faces.

Naruto maintained the silent pause for a while afterwards as he mentally took a step back for contemplation. He supposed that the living garment **had** filled him in on a lot of those sorts of details. But what he failed to either mention or convey, probably because he didn't even fully understand what they were, was the human emotions and weaknesses she harbored long before their meeting, and apparently still clung to now with Senketsu's prolonged absence.

"Senketsu's…really all you got, isn't he?" He surmised.

"No," She relented after another lengthy pause. "I'll still always have Mako here." She gave the girl a one-armed hug, who apparently was expecting it and glommed on to her leg. "But Senketsu was made for me… and I for him. I just… couldn't imagine being without him." Even though she was for the better part of a year, never had the concept fully reconciled in her mind.

"So-ka." He said in a deep voice which was weighty with meaning only for him.

"-So that's why I'm still pissed at you." She finished and almost entirely ruined whatever connection he had been one-sidedly forging. "Eight months! Senketsu could have flown here on his own with you along for the ride! Every week you spent wearing him was more time for his Life-Fibers to become ingrained with your body! What were you thinking?!"

"I had a lot of other things to deal with at the time." He muttered darkly as Mako leapt off her friend when the conversation looked to be turning dangerous again.

He **could** tell them all about the Rabbit Goddess and the reincarnation of Asura and Indra and the army of the undead and the nine Bijuu and all that went along with it…but he wasn't trying to win a dick-swinging contest here. Both their worlds had been (and for him, still was) in jeopardy, but he neither wanted to heap his troubles (any further) on these strangers, nor did he believe that the situation warranted her hostile attitude _regardless_ of the dire truth.

"From the moment I woke up to find Senketsu had dressed himself on me, I was unable to take him off." He revealed in a patient voice which did nothing to alleviate the weight of the geared eyes on his chest. "I was otherwise _engaged_ with matters that couldn't wait, and the first thing I did when I was able to, was to go to my village's medical head and ask her to help me out."

Ryῡko looked like she was going to snap at him again, but he knew that he wouldn't peaceably stand by and let her make an uninformed insult at his adoptive grandmother, so he cut her off at the quick.

"And before you say anything else, know that my village has the best medical department on the entire **planet** , and I had no idea that they wouldn't be able to do anything for me." He uncrossed his arms and closed his eyes so that the only outward expression he was showing was a patient visage thinly masking immense pain. "I didn't mean to keep Senketsu away from you for so long. He was anxious to get back to you as well, but I needed his help with the problems I talked about earlier."

Again, he didn't need to tell her that having Senketsu permanently attached wreaked havoc on any semblance of Chakra control he had, all but preventing him from doing even his most fundamental techniques and thoroughly dashing any hope of completing any of his father's jutsu.

The insinuation that this ignorant blond block-head had more need of Senketsu than her boiled Ryῡko's blood. She truly hadn't entertained (rather banished the possibility from her mind) that Naruto's world might have also been dealing with a truly calamitous situation which far outstripped her emotional dependence on the Kamui. Though perhaps her addiction was physical too, like Senketsu needing her blood to prevent him from becoming a rabid beast, she needed the grounding effect he supplied.

That was a scary thought that she didn't dare entertain. She had nearly lost herself more than once to her inherent insanity and did not want to tempt fate. So, she lashed out at the only target which so far had yet to bite back.

"STOP IT!" -Or she would have if her best friend hadn't decided to end her neutrality.

HALLELUJAH!

"Stop it Ryῡko! Stop getting upset with Naruto! Can't you see that all he's done is try to help?!"

HALLELUJAH!

"Sure, he could have dropped everything to come and return Senketsu, but then what about his problems? That would be like if you stopped trying to kill those creepy suit-guys to go help my mom cook croquettes!"

"She doesn't need your help to cook croquettes! She's been making them for years now! Plus, you don't know how to make croquettes! You do know how to kick alien Life-Fiber butt!"

"Instead you've been spending all your time going on shopping trips and being moody! Stop being moody! We all missed Senketsu, and instead of focusing on all the times you didn't have him, you should be happy with the fact that he's here now!"

"And Naruto, don't get upset with Ryῡko! Even though it wasn't your fault, you're still wearing her Sunday best and she's really terrible at choosing clothes on her own not to mention Senketsu is a really great friend to all of us and we missed him terribly.

"We should all celebrate because Senketsu came back from the dead, and once we can strip Naruto down to his birthday suit, he's going to leave forever and the only memories he'll have of us will be horrible!"

"Horrible!"

"Horrible!"

"Horrible!"

The other two let the rambling diatribe fly past like speeding train, the wind ruffling their hair and eyes blinking to dislodge the dust that was kicked up.

Naruto was torn. Part of him wanted to be happy that someone seemed to be sticking up for him, and the other half of him was terrified that there seemed to be an equivalent to Gai's Youthful-Sunset Jutsu which could be cast without chakra.

In the end he settled for a half-hearted grin and thumbs up.

But Ryῡko had yet to move from the spot she was fixated in, staring at the prostrate Mako who was still panting for breath as she was imploring her friend on her hands and knees.

"I'm sorry, Mako… Senketsu…"

The other three leaned over at her with wide, expectant eyes.

"…Naruto…"

They shared a small grin at that small victory.

"…but I can't do this."

The already diminutive Mankanshoku deflated further while Naruto himself could only try to prop up his most resilient façade, but in the end, couldn't entirely banish his own disappointment.

The other girl turned away from this, from the pitiable looks burrowing into her back and crawling to lay as dead weight on her shoulders. She began to walk away without so much as a glance back at the glassy-eyed Kamui.

"Ryῡko-san." Her hand braced against the doorway, keeping her from turning around.

"If you ever need to talk to Senketsu, please come find me. I don't care if I'm sleeping if you prefer that for your privacy. As long as I am bound to him, I don't want you to feel as if I'm keeping him from you. And… I'm sorry for all the grief I've caused."

He didn't so much see her react as he heard the metal groan under her hand.

"You…" His eyes widened a fraction at the tone, interest overriding the amateur killing intent. "…are annoying me."

Mako watched her best friend leave with lost eyes scanning the space she once occupied. She couldn't understand why she was so angry. But then again, she never really understood Ryῡko when she got like that. Usually her interventions would do the trick, but even though this one appeared ineffective, she had little doubt that the taciturn girl would come around eventually.

What she was more worried about was why Naruto had a shit-eating grin on his face after being condemned so thoroughly. It only further confused her when he realized her staring and bent down to ruffle her hair like a puppy.

Which she graciously accepted and nuzzled into the palm of his hand.

"I'm sorry Ryῡko-chan is acting so weird." She pulled away from his comforting menstruations so she could apologize on her friend's behalf.

"Maa, don't worry about it." Naruto said shrugging. "I think things will turn out alright."

"So do I, but my dad just says that's because I was dropped on my head as a baby. Were you dropped on your head as a kid?"

Naruto chuckled. "Probably. But no, that's not the reason." He gave her head one last pat before wandering out the same door they came in, mid fixated on another dark-haired individual who spurned his olive-branch at first. "It's because I've heard those lines before, and I already know what happens next."


	5. Break Up the Concrete

**And just like Joseph Smith, I have been blessed with a divine vision and sent this manuscript direct from the almighty himself.**

 **Someone should start a religion over this. Seriously.**

* * *

"Are you really sure this is going to work?"

"Your skepticism does not inspire me to do a good job, Uzumaki. You are just lucky that I am a professional."

"Gee, I feel so much better."

"Uzumaki-san, need I remind you that not long ago you had volunteered to undergo what promised to be a far more painful surgery for the same outcome."

Naruto stared at the giant pair of scissors with no small amount of uneasiness (Damn they were big! How did he not notice that before?). At the top of the many regrets bubbling to the surface at that moment were in fact those words which he wished he could now sweep under the nearest sofa and lose for the next few decades until this debacle was over.

No such luck, because 'Little-Miss-Perfect' found them and was now waving them in his face like an embarrassing magazine.

"You have no reason to be concerned, Lori is the head of the Sewing Club and his talents have yet to fail us."

SEWING CLUB CHAIR

SHIRO LORI

SEWING IS A MALE HOBBY TOO

"Aren't you going to tell him about Harime Nui dismantling his Goku uniforms with her pinky?"

Ryῡko mentioned offhandedly, feigning an air of thought from her front-row seat in the gallery (seriously, they might as well sell tickets to this- WHY IS THERE A CONCESSION STAND?!) which had been erected around the operating table like a roman coliseum. The analogy didn't help to settle Naruto's nerves, nor did the vindictive smile on the young woman's lips as both promised copious amounts of his blood.

Satsuki didn't appear to be pleased, however, with the slight at one of her most trusted associates and sent a glare at her sister which said as much. Despite being undeniably stronger, the delinquent girl was easily cowed by a single pass over from the two blocks of ice.

"Enough delay. Anesthetize the patient and begin the procedure!"

"That's not going to work…" Naruto lamented under his breath.

"Sorry did you say something?" The orange-mask (again, awesome!) guy who was supposed to surgically remove Senketsu from his body asked as he leaned over with a sadly colorless mask in his hand which was supposed to douse him with the knock-out gas.

Naruto shook his head, not wanting to distract the youth any more considering the intimate parts of his body he was about to work around. He would just try to pretend and fall asleep after the mask was on him, and hope that he didn't flinch during the next… two… hours…

"Do you think this will work, Inumuta?"

"Absolutely." The blue-haired boy replied without a hint of either doubt nor the debilitating mental crisis which affected him for the few days hence.

Satsuki admittedly still harbored her own concerns considering her subordinate no longer had access to a Goku uniform to boost his intelligence gathering and processing skills. He claimed that was what caused him to pass out so that he could give his brain maximum energy in order to work out an answer using both his conscious and subconscious mind.

"I am 100% sure that this should be able to remove Senketsu from his body using the Life-Fiber severing Scissors." His surety didn't cause him to look away from the lone figure wandering around the patient down on the operating floor. "However…"

The other Elite Four groaned hearing the caveat waft from his near-constantly shrouded mouth.

"What do you mean 'however'? Is it going to work or not?"

"Inumuta! If you harbored any doubts about your work, you should have informed Lady-Satsuki immediately!"

"Nyan~ it's not surprising that the dog buried his bone and forgot where he put it. I told Satsuki-chan you were losing your touch~"

"However…" Inumuta continued undeterred. "Once Senketsu is detached, I still am not sure how we are going to extract the other Life-Fibers currently occupying Uzumaki's body."

"Won't they just wither and die once Senketsu is no longer there to support them?" Satsuki asked, her trepidation growing. This time, it wasn't because she doubted his experience, but because she knew their own track record.

It wasn't that good.

"Most likely." Inumuta answered casually. "But of course, we have never seen such Fibers except in their infancy before. And certainly none which originated from Senketsu, which might be different considering his artificial construction." He reached over to tap a few keys on his laptop in order to bring up the body map he had constructed in his recovering haze. "Then of course there is the matter of Uzumaki himself. From all the other data I have gathered, the Life-Fibers typically overcome an individual within six months' time when they encroach on the heart and interfere with its electrical signal, death for the host follows swiftly after."

"Uzumaki's Fibers have been there for eight months. Does that mean we can just rip Senketsu off him and throw away what's left?" There were scant few objections to Sanagema's suggestion, which caused the sleep-feigning blond beneath them to issue a whimper in lamentation.

"I don't think his Life-Fibers are going to go down that easily, however." Bursting their bubble, Inumuta pulled up an animated version of the same schematic he had sleepily drawn before, showing Naruto during first 'contact' up until the current state. "Most subjects die when the fibers are mere strands worming their way into the body. Uzumaki's Fibers have formed bundles averaging about 1cm in diameter, and doing some extrapolation of their growth function, it is plain to me that they are in fact growing **faster** than in other subjects."

"Then why did you say it was 'most likely'?"

"Because it still is. Statistically speaking." Another non-committal shrug and Another round of groans echoed around the darkened observation booth. "Uzumaki is just an anomaly."

"Enough." The undisputed head uttered and the unnecessary chatter immediately fell off. "We will just have to wait and see what happens. Though you should have disclosed this as soon as you knew, Inumuta."

"My apologies, Satsuki-sama."

There was no more cajoling of the young man's omission however, and the six of them (how did Mankashoku get in? And she shouldn't be eating during a surgery!) fell into an uncomfortable silence as they each watched impatiently and with an inexplicable apprehension.

"Beginning first cut…" Lori intoned, leveling the massive surgical tool dangerously close to Naruto's chest. The blond gulped as he prepared to sing eulogies for his second-favorite nipple.

*Tink*.

Six inquisitive heads leaned far over the railing to get a close look.

*Tink*

Again Lori's hands made an almost imperceptible movement while his brow furrowed. He opened the scissors wider…

*Tink*

…only to be met by the same resistance.

"Satsuki-sama…"

The blond teen nervously glanced over his shoulder to look at the shadowed face of his leader with an aghast, as the color drained from everyone else to imbue her with a fearsome and glowing hue.

"Or for the love of-Give those to me!"

Before anyone could even begin to comprehend the situation as it stood, Ryῡko lost her famously tenuous patience and leapt off the balcony, snatching the scissor blade from Lori who was all to happy to relinquish blame to the hotheaded woman. Before she could take even half a step to the patient, however, Naruto leapt up from the operating table with an alacrity that surprised everyone who thought he had been hard unconscious.

"You'll never take me alive!"

It wasn't until those words were shrieked, and Naruto cast a handful of mostly useless surgical tools at the gob smacked Ryῡko, that she mentally caught up with the score, batting away the tools as an afterthought as she darted after the swift blond.

"Get back here!"

"Are you kidding me?! You're going to skewer me with those things!"

"Only if you move!"

"What if you hit Senketsu?!"

"I won't if you'd just stay still!"

None of the Elite Four could tell if Satsuki was more exasperated or furious at the way the orderly medical operation had fallen to pieces, and they all held in their own content laughter to see what she would do.

"Deal with it." She forced out with a hand firmly clamped onto the bridge of her nose.

"HAI!" The chorus came even as they were already in motion, leaping down to join in the fray.

"Would you like some popcorn, Satsuki-chan?"

"…"

"Please! For the love of all things, stop and think about what you're doing!" Although Naruto was hardly one to talk, not enough neurons firing to realize he was perfectly capable of punching a hole in the wall and escaping through it. Instead, he ran around the circular stage like a chicken with his head cut off.

He slid gracefully under the mobile surgical table and flipped it over on his way out. Though quite what he intended to do with that move he failed to fathom as the myopic woman sliced clean through it on her fixated path straight at the blond. Coming back up to his feet, Naruto watched the two halves of the bed go flying and was about to leap up into the (relative) safety of the stands, when four shadows descended upon him from just that direction.

"Alright! We'll hold him down, go for it, Ryῡko-chan!"

"I'll never let you take me alive!"

"You'd have a better chance of surviving if you'd just stay still…"

"Oh yeah?! Well I'll just s-Waaa?!" But as Naruto struggled against the relative ineffectiveness of the Elite-Four's bundling, he found he couldn't move regardless of being confident that he was vastly stronger than all of them combine.

"Naruto,"

The consistently calm voice of Senketsu flooded his mind and he immediately placated. No matter how much he resented the suit's assistance in his struggles, there was no doubt that he had developed a Pavlovian response to the soothing intonation and almost certain deliverance which lay therein. He stilled, quitting his struggle against not only the Four's interference, but the impossibly stiff threads binding his muscles.

"Okay."

His flat, acquiescent voice was heard by only one other, and as the four manhandling him manipulated his spread-eagle body into position, Senketsu's reassuring baritone wormed its warm lines around his mind again.

"Thank you, Naruto for trusting me."

"You haven't steered me wrong yet."

Senketsu's former partner watched her friend privately confer with the blond with just the barest hint of a jealous frown which she soon dismissed. Soon enough, she would be reunited with her closest companion and she could let go of the burdensome anger she held for Uzumaki, hopefully forget about him entirely as they went their separate ways.

"I promise…" She spoke determinedly, snickering the scissors in the direction of the crucified young male and masculine clothing. "…this won't hurt a bit."

And then she shot at the two with such alarming speed that Naruto was too stunned and impressed to be worried, her crossed blades spread open like a slack-jawed maw waiting for a succulent meal. Just a hair's width in any direction off center, and either one of them would be getting stitches. They had no choice but to trust the foolhardy woman, but at least they didn't have long to second guess their confidence.

*Clang!*

While more substantial than the uninspiring pings when the same was attempted by Lori, the unyielding sound of metal coming upon its equal was still as off-putting as it was shocking. Ryῡko hung on the end of the blades like her life depended on it, eyes trying to spread themselves wide to awaken from this nightmare.

Naruto was tempted to let out a sigh of relief as he saw that the woman had indeed aimed true and managed to sneak the tip of the violet and crimson blades underneath the hem of the crop-top. But this sigh of relief soon turned to one of dismay as the second try bore no better results than the first.

And things were only about to get worse.

" **You were right, girl…** "

All eyes shot to the where the formidable and morbidly eldritch voice seemed to emanate from the strung-up teen, or more accurately from the garment he bore. From the point where the scissors stopped dead, a vermillion mound like a zit started to protrude and grow over the blade.

"S-Senketsu? Is that you?"

Ryῡko's desperate words stirred a cognition within Naruto's mind, and all too late he realized the last context in which he heard that voice.

"All of you, get the hell out of here now!"

But his warning fell on deaf ears as they waited like cocaine addicts for the next hit which would send them into a manic comprehension. The words were brown sugar molasses and if they were attached to a mouth, they would have curved up in a fanged-grin ready to swallow their complacency whole.

Instead, the next move came from Senketsu, as the kerchief eye permanently shut behind a cross-shaped scar burst open in a chatoyant display of crimson and black.

" **That didn't hurt a bit**."

* * *

Ryῡko opened her eyes only to encounter an obnoxiously bright light shining right in her face. She groaned and tried turning back over, putting hand in front of her face to stave off the inevitable. For by then she realized it was the sun, and if it was that high overhead to become bothersome, she had slept far past what common decency demanded.

Then she realized that she was no longer in school. The threat of "No Late Day" and other potentially humiliating consequences where nil considering she had nothing planned in the foreseeable future, and she should be able to sleep unburdened by obligations. She didn't think she had anything going on, anyway.

But **then** she realized that the sun never ever reached the inside of the Mankanshoku residence, even during the peak of its march across the sky. The tiny one-room home was so completely sandwiched between the neighboring buildings that it was always a surprise to find out that the roof even leaked when the rain barely pattered the shingles during a deluge.

So she was then left to figure out the unreasonable explanation for why she was not asleep in the tiny apartment, but had rather passed out on the rough, unyielding ground with no protection from the sun's rays overhead.

She better not have ended up in Mikisugi's office again.

"Wake up! Ryῡko!"

Even had she not know it was her, Satsuki's voice had that undeniable quality to it which made it so that if you weren't actively paying attention, you might jump off a cliff if she asked you to. Even if you were fully cognizant, you might have to think twice.

Ryῡko had been barely awake when the demand was made of her and thus shot to her feet before her eyes had fully opened. Though she then had to be steadied by her sister holding her firmly by her shoulder, presumably to keep her from toppling over. Though the steadying hand didn't last long, as unexpectedly moments later the scissor blades were shoved back into her hand with a blind urgency.

"GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF MATOI!" Gamgōri's intensity finally roused her completely, and she shook her asymmetric hairstyle out of her face to regain her bearings.

Needless to say, what she saw was not what she was expecting.

But it did quickly come back to her, and the debris-strewn yard of Honnouji Academy suddenly made all too much sense as the cause of her 'midday nap' stared her in the face.

"Naruto-?!"

"Whatever's left of him in there." Satsuki said with bitter notice. For once, not as confident in her abilities to handle any and all threats which manifested themselves.

She knew they all stood little chance against a fully-evolved Kamui, and even an amateur one like they assumed Naruto to be would pose a significant challenge without weeks of preparation. Whatever… **this** was, was far beyond her worst-case scenario.

Being just barely removed from the direct line of fire, she had been in a position to see it all unfold first hand in agonizing slow motion. The scissor blade, the two combined which had been irrefutably proven to be able to sever even the most hardened Life-Fibers, had been stopped dead in its tracks. Satsuki might have been tempted to chalk it up to her little sister's compassion for her wearable comrade (and she held minor suspicions that compassion spread to the blond knucklehead as well) staying her from going full power. If, that is, it wasn't for the malevolent voice which seemed to propagate throughout the room like living chlorine gas.

Then everything blew up. Literally.

Satsuki herself had been thrown upward into the rafters where she grabbed on to one of the light fixtures which had not been dislodged from the explosion. Once the stars had faded, but before the ringing in her ears stopped, she dropped down to what remained of the operating theater to see what had become of her companions. The only thing she encountered was a gaping hole in the wall of the school which looked like a rat had tried gnawing its way out of wood to escape a fire, embers from the blaze still burning even the steel rebar sticking out jaggedly from the sides of the hole.

She followed the path of destruction outside to where she found both the scissor blade as well as her sister lying forgotten on the dirt. Dealing with that problem first, she nevertheless refused to take her eyes off the horrifying sight which also awaited her on the other side of the rabbit hole.

She still hadn't.

It was hard to tell if Naruto was even consciously aware as he was battered back and forth by opposing sides of the garment which had once been Senketsu only. Maybe it still contained their inhuman friend, as the one side seemed diametrically opposed to the other. But it was hard to tell in the compacted chaos that was ensuing.

It was like a one-man boxing match, or a Punch and Judy show combined with MMA. Naruto was warring with himself. Or rather, he was battling in between two halves of the sailor suit which were wildly flailing deadly attacks back and forth, seemingly at random, but likely at the other half which was demarcated only by the blood-red eye on one hand, and the jaundiced yellow they all recognized on the right.

"What in the hell is going on?" She heard her sister demand in a tone like she had just gotten the wind knocked out of her.

"That's something I'd like to know. Inumuta, report!"

Suddenly surrounded once again by the Elite Four, looking every bit as chewed on as Ryῡko herself felt, the blue-haired, glasses wearing geek replaced said glasses on the bridge of his nose after administering an ad-hoc repair with electric tape and gave a clinical synopsis.

"Hai! Uzumaki appears to be stuck in the middle of a battle between two halves of Senketsu, the cause or exact nature of the personality split is unknown. Correction: conjecture. This may not be a personality split, but a foreign Life-Fiber conscious which attached itself while Kamui Senketsu was drifting through space."

Satsuki nodded, again probably not fully comprehending, but at least well enough that she no longer doubting she was seeing things correctly.

"Suggestions?" It was plain to her that they couldn't let the hostile life-form run rampant, even though the Academy was currently vacated apart from them and the only one in immediate danger was the blond stuck between.

"The Scissor Blade didn't seem to cut it." Sanagema ground out, hands wringing the useless handle of his shinai. "As much as I hate to admit it, it doesn't look like there's much else we can do."

"Chigaimasu!" A piece of rubble was ejected upward to reveal an unscathed Mako underneath.

"Makanshoku? What are you doing here? This is no place for you to be!"

"Wrong! This is exactly where I need to be!" Gamagōri had the presence of mind to look abashed as the diminutive girl declared this with a passion which made them all take a step back. "We have to help Naruto and Senketsu!"

"Mako," Her best friend tried patiently. "there's probably nothing that we can do if the scissors couldn't sever his Life-Fibers. We'd only hurt ourselves or Senketsu if we tried."

The girl gave her a pout which wouldn't have been out of place on a six-year-old, but on this quasi-adult woman was just another headache waiting to happen. Ryῡko was about to get firm with the petulantly emotional child when Mako beat her to the punch.

"Wrong!" She shot an accusing finger which hovered menacingly above Ryῡko's nose. "This isn't like you, Ryῡko! This isn't the bestie I know! How do you think Senketsu would feel if her knew you abandoned him without even trying?! Even if it's totally pointless, that doesn't mean we shouldn't try!"

Satsuki was about to step in to the poorly timed scolding, thinking that her sister couldn't handle it with the discipline the situation demanded. But then she remembered all the other times Mako had intruded at what seemed like the most inopportune moment, only to spout some nonsensical garbage which ended up being incongruously exactly what they needed to hear. So for once, she just opened both her ears and her heart.

"Heh." The first thing she heard when the pipsqueak finished her harangue was a breathy laugh from her sister. Then she saw the tomboy lay a placating hand on the other girl's shoulder.

"You're right. Thanks again, Mako." Then she turned to the increasingly disturbing fight with hardened determination. "Alright! Let's go save those idiots!"

Though there was a heartening cheer which propelled the six of them forward, by the time they got within spitting distance of the conflict, it was like the weight of a thousand suns was on their shoulders.

"What in the hell are you guys doing?! Stay back." Naruto screamed as he got socked in the face by a ribbon of living cloth.

They almost listened to him, coming to a screeching halt a stone's throw away and taking stock of the scene up close for the first time.

It was incredible, but Naruto was managing to dodge quite a few of the blows aimed at him by the flailing tentacles woven from Life-Fibers which sprouted out of his own tailbone. In fact, the only reason he was apparently getting hit by the self-destructive constructs was because he was preventing them from hitting the half of his body which still potentially housed Senketsu, putting himself in between the earth-shattering blows.

The term being literal, as one which went awry sent large chunks of pavement in their direction, which would have made for quite a few lumps if Satsuki's impenetrable shield hadn't stepped in the way.

"Enough of this, Naruto." Ryῡko heard Senketsu's moribund voice the way she heard everything he said, as clear as day in her mind's eye. "Just let him have me. Then you can break free and deal with it more effectively."

"That's the first stupid thing I've heard come out of your mouth." Naruto was talking in panting breaths to the garment, but somehow, she could catch the words forming on his bruised lips. "You know that if he overcomes you, he'll have no problem taking over my body as well once you're out of the picture. Besides, I've played nice with this bastard all my life, and I'm not about to let him take away something else precious to me!"

Not only was she abjectly confused, Ryῡko was speechless. The words of sacrifice and blame were all muddled in her head. And though she might later come to realize that Naruto had known of the adversary they were currently fighting, in the here and now she could only comprehend the struggle of two comrades fighting desperately side by side, and all her anger and resentment washed away like the tears she had never shed.

Because they were both just like her.

Instead of falling on her knees when she heard the resignation in Senketsu's voice, her body instead redoubled in strength, rocketing her forward at speeds she could only previously achieve while wearing the Kamui. She dodged one of the flailing appendages which turned towards her at the last second and prepared a fist which had all of her considerable momentum behind it.

All four of the eyes looked at her with total shock as she yelled a war cry and threw herself in the midst of the maelstrom. But there was nothing any of them could do and she was already fully committed to the blow, locked on to the crimson eye whose slit pupil burned her with an intense rage.

She slugged it as hard as she could.

Naruto, Senketsu, and whatever else was freeloading off them were sent flying, tumbling into the academy wall which had seen more craters than the dark side of the moon.

She wondered if she hadn't accidentally done something incredibly stupid, but then saw Naruto pick himself up slowly off the ground, and flash her a quick thumbs-up with a miraculous twinkle in his swollen eye.

But then the enraged entity exploded outward in a cacophony of limbs, energy, and a roar which forced them to their knees.

"Enough of this." Naruto said to himself as he struggled to pull his hands together into his favorite seal.

Two was all he got, but it was four more hands than he had before, and the copies he had spawned had only a superficial replica of Senketsu. It would seem the lifeform was more complex than he first surmised.

The others were all still recovering from both the debilitating roar, as well as the mental shock from Ryῡko's drastic charge when the other two blonds popped into existence. They found that they couldn't move as the Narutos began the battle afresh, trying their best to restrain the nine prehensile limbs which they now decided resembled more like tails, such as they were sprouting from his backbone.

It soon became clear, though, that it was all the Naruto clones could do to mitigate a couple of the tails at a time, and they could not hold them down for any extended period without neglecting the other 5 or 6 consistently wiggling out of their grasp. Seeing that the blond was the only one with an apparent plan, the others silently leapt to his aid, even though he was being quite adamant about them staying away.

"Don't be such a prima donna Uzumaki!" Sanagema shouted as he pinned one of the tails down with his shinai. "Senketsu's our friend too!"

"AS DISCIPLANRY CHAIR, I HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF ANYONE ON ACADEMY GROUNDS!" Gamagōri asserted while locking two tails under his car-crusher arms.

"You better make sure you get out of this, Uzumaki," Satsuki threatened him while hacking away with her Bakuzan pair. "because I will be awaiting a full explanation when this is all said and done."

"Fools." Naruto said, but there was a pained smile on his face that had nothing to do with the fact that his body felt like it was getting torn apart.

" **Yes, they are fools.** " His smile drooped into a frown as he heard the taunting voice of his lifelong tormentor. " **Just like you, Naruto.** "

"Oi, Naruto!" Ryῡko gnashed her teeth at him, "You better make sure Senketsu comes back to me in one piece!"

He gave her a tightlipped smile in the face of the paper wall of animosity she was trying to shove in front of him. But he could see that stubborn compassion which she tried to hide from him shining through the translucent surface.

" **Yes, she is like you, isn't she?** " Naruto felt himself growl not unlike the creature he was arguing with. " **Yes, her hate will do nicely…** "

With those words, Naruto knew that his circumstantial comrades were in far more grave danger than they could possibly imagine. Not thinking or caring about the consequences which would arise later, he had his two clones let go of the tails they were wrangling and dart over to the Elite four before they could protest and chuck them far away from the line of fire. Ryῡko and Satsuki he had to deal with himself, and he could see the indignation on both their faces when he kicked them away from his person.

But it would be worth it, if they survived.

The tails which were now released, coalesced into himself much like the strands of the Rasengan would. And like the legendary technique, he was torn to shreds by the black and crimson tendrils.

"No…"

Ryῡko wasn't quite sure what she was rejecting, or whom she was lamenting with that quivering denial. However, it seemed the right thing to do when the mouth of the transformed Senketsu opened up wide and swallowed Naruto whole. And then proceeded to swallow itself, turning inside out so that the seams were baseball stiches pulsating with every heartbeat. In one bite it had taken her whole world and collapsed it all into a writhing ball of yarn which was just a plaything to the fickle whims of whatever deity had taken Senketsu away from her.

She hit the ground hard as her sister threw herself on top, pressing the two of them down so they tasted the loose dust fleeing before the wave of strands exploding outward from that condescend sphere. The lines in the spray were made of living magma spun to gossamer thinness, passing an equal width over the back of their necks and singing the tiny hairs which stood piously on end.

The galaxy of fibers swirled back in on themselves once again, spinning into a helix which reached the top of the once imposing walls before slowly weaving themselves a form. A sharp snout pressed itself out of the cocoon, followed by four columnar legs which were enough to support a pantheon of gods.

They would hold one demon just fine.

As she poked her own nose up above her sister's frazzled hair, Satsuki tried to regard the manifestation with some sort of rational or strategy. Anything, but the overwhelming dread that it inspired in her, telling her that there was no use even in fleeing, and that she was better off waiting for the painless death it promised.

It was worse than the transformation exhibited by Ryῡko when she let her anger get the better of her. If at that time she had been a monster, then this was the ruler of whatever hell such creatures went to after they had played too long in the human realm.

"Senketsu…"

That was one thing this creature was not, for whatever trace threads of the sailor suit which existed were now incorporated into that monstrous form quickly stitching itself a body fit to devour them all.

It had already got one of them, and Naruto hung there in the midst of it all, entrapped in the web of scarlet thread which was the beast's stomach.

Since everything she knew failed her, all her rational on hiatus in the face of this insurmountable adversary, Satsuki ripped a page out of her sister's book, and decided to do something which ordinarily would make no sense.

She flew at the threadbare creature which was filling out into the shape of a giant fox, springing off the paw which lazily stomped down to crush her and throwing herself straight into the gullet with blades snapping at the fibers closing in behind her.

She heard the roar vibrate through the taught fibers all around her-all except the ones that her blade miraculously managed to sever. It appeared that while it was busy constructing itself, it had indeed stretched itself thin, to the point where her Bakuzan could cut through once again with ease.

Like an arrow on a bowstring, she shot herself off one of those tensioned fibers and snatched Uzumaki from the clutches of the threads trying to weave him a funeral shroud. The two of them flew out of the construct's web and landed unceremoniously on the ground on the other side. Or, they would have if Gamagōri, prompted by his mistress's sudden bout of action hadn't sprinted to the landing sight and caught the two as they fell.

"Thanks…" Naruto grumbled, indicating that he had somehow survived being eaten twice consecutively.

"You can thank me by stopping whatever you brought with you." Satsuki rebuked, trying not to sound afraid even as she adopted a heroic pose perched in the nest of Gamagōri's hand.

"Already on it." The blond dismissed as he leapt without further ado from the giant's hold and alighted on the churned-up earth with a stumbling grace.

Neither he nor anyone else seemed bothered by his state of undress, though the Student Council President did wonder what he intended to do without weapons at his disposal. Unless he had somehow stashed a trump card in the waistband of his froggy boxer shorts.

He smirked, somehow guessing where the sever woman's mind was at, and resisted the urge to tease her about staring at his scantily-clad butt. He had something more important to do, and furthermore it was time to show these people that he didn't need a Kamui to give him strength. He was his own weapon.

A half seal that a few had recognized from before, and the rest of the substantial field was covered in copies of the half-naked blond.

He sighed, thankful that his chakra control had returned without Senketsu's constant disruption.

"Is there something we should be doing, Uzumaki-san?" Inumuta, along with the rest of the Elite four wondered, splitting their attention between the original, the sea of copies, and the overstuffed Teddy-Bear Fox which was now clearly staring in their direction.

A wry smile was the young man's answer even as the clones attacked, as hundreds were removed from the battlefield with a single swipe from the Fox's then singular tail.

"Yeah, maybe you could buy me some time…"

He needed utter no more words, for as if by an unspoken agreement from Satsuki herself, they flashed away to carry out this task.

"Now… this is going to be uncomfortable."

Dragging herself past the throngs of her least-favorite blond which suddenly populated the academy, Ryῡko was just in time to see Naruto take into his own hands the one thing she really wanted to do to him. He punched himself in the stomach.

Hard.

Hard enough that it looked like he was about to puke up a handful of essential organs, but the two sisters were almost as shocked when the end of a massive scroll poked its way out of his mouth. They watched in disgusted fascination which was almost enough to make them completely forget about the fox batting around the Naruto clones as well as the Elite Four like badminton shuttles as he pulled the rest of the log-sized parchment out of his gullet.

"Never…doing…that…again…"

Naruto griped between pants, but grateful that the toads had taught him that particular technique when he learned he was going away to another planet with no guarantee he'd be able to summon them. He used the chest-high manuscript to lift himself off the ground, knees almost giving out a couple of times. He had used far too much Chakra after going dry for so long.

"You…" He wearily lifted his head to see Ryῡko staring at him with an expression he had never met directed at him, but knew well enough from the times the Kyuubi had taken possession of his body. "…because of you… Senketsu is…"

He turned away, not about to let her blame affect his own resolution to do what was best. She would either forgive him when this was all over, or he would be dead. Either way, the anger she felt would be fleeting.

"Not yet." His words were resolute, stopping her just a few paces away from being close enough to lop his head off with those razor-sharp tailoring instruments. "He's not gone yet."

Before either could question how he knew this, he cracked the stiff parchment and then unfurled it like a sail to reveal a tapestry of kanji. Most, they couldn't decipher, but were nonetheless awed and oddly cognizant of their implication. And beyond the esoteric scribbles, there was a circular series of glyphs in the center that drew their attention like a black hole draws light.

"Ryῡko!" Naruto bellowed her name, looking straight ahead at the now nine-tailed fox beast which was rampaging heedless of the infinitesimal insects harrying it. "I promised that I would get you back Senketsu, no matter what." His fingers lit up with a flame the same color of the one that was burning in his eyes. "I never go back on my promises."

He plunged his hand into the steadfast scroll, the ink characters flowing with his wrist as he twisted the seals against the unseen resistance of the universe.

The world became more sound than sight, more sight than touch as everything buzzed and vibrated until they went simultaneously numb, blind and deaf with all those senses being overloaded by stimuli. None of the observers were aware of who was screaming louder, the Fox, Naruto, themselves, or the universe being pulled out from underneath them and being shoved back into Naruto's gut.

And with a popping slurp like the last of the noodles in the bowl, it was over.

Tattered black cloth floated down like the last leaves of Autumn, pinwheeling in a lingering breeze and casting shadows over the weary survivors.

"Senketsu-!"

She was off like a gust of wind, loud padding of worn-out sneakers echoed across the stagnant field and off the blue glass ceiling overhead. She skidded into a homerun slide underneath the fluttering garment, cradling the object like it was an impossibly fragile holy treatise which decried all the fallacies in the world.

"I'm here, Senketsu." She drunk in the peaceful face of her friend, more worse for the wear to be sure, but no more tattered than she herself.

"Ryῡko…"

The garment of few words had only this to say, and it was all that the girl needed as she embraced him, smothering him with her wet eyes and sloppy sorrow, which to the clothing's credit, he took with all the loving intent behind it.

Six other sets of eyes watched in unburdened interest, allowing themselves their own moment of contentment and reprieve in the warming light of the sun which felt more like it had just broken over the horizon rather than just about to go to sleep itself.

A rubber mallet struck a tone in Naruto's heart.

"Kuso… too reckless."

Hardly anyone noticed when he clutched his bare chest and doubled over, staying on his feet just long enough to glare at the molten seal on his stomach slowly coagulating into an angry red scar.

"Naruto?"

Having showed up just after the miraculous disappearance of the giant Fox effigy, Mako was just in time to see her most recent friend begin to collapse in considerately private agony.

"Eh? Naruto!"

She threw herself underneath his significantly greater mass, struggling with jelly arms to keep him from faceplanting. The scroll which had been propping him up toppling over and rolling a way off before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Be it the pop, the crash, or the agitated shouts of Mako as she tried to keep herself from getting smothered by the blond, one set of eyes led the others to Naruto's less than optimal disposition. Feelings of doubt and animosity became secondary as the person who had suddenly shot up as the most powerful among them, tripped and tumbled down far underneath the glass ceiling.

"Eh, what's the matter, Blondie's not looking so good."

"Oi! Gaki!"

"Kuso!"

"Uzumaki!" Satsuki's enflamed face eclipsed Mako's two innocently twinkling moons and stared down at him with what might have been the most worried glare she could possibly muster. "You have yet to tell us just what the hell that was, as such you are not allowed to rest yet!"

Naruto rolled his eyes and ended getting them stuck up there as his energy left him halfway through.

"UZUMAKI! YOU HAVE NOT BEEN DISMISSED YET!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just going to take a little nap…"

Maybe when he woke up it'd be in a proper bed this time…


	6. Thin Line Between Love and Hate

**Finally! I have been trying to upload this chapter for the past 36 hours. Honestly, FF uploads only seem to work half the time for me.**

 **Although, it could also be said that it was my fault for delaying, considering this has been done for a week. Oops?**

 **Anyway, moving on...**

 **Once again, my sincere thanks to those of you who review and follow. Y'all are freaking weird for liking this and I love it!**

 **By the way, anyone got the theme with the chapter titles? I listen to an eclectic range of music, so I'm still holding out hope that someone will recognize them (...darn kids today have no appreciation for the classics!).**

 **On another note, I must just put this out there, I am getting more and more busy with classes (mainly chem, which has been purged from my mind), and I will most likely be updating more infrequently. Actually, that's a lie. I'm probably going to be writing just as much to purge the monotony from my head each night. They only thing this will affect is my response time for reviews. And though I like to give everyone personal treatment, from now on if you desire a hand-written reply, just put a question mark anywhere in your review, or PM me directly.**

 **Thanks, and now on with the show.**

* * *

"It's just as I feared."

None of the flatline faces showed a flicker at this declaration, for they had all been at ground zero and had little doubt that the situation was in fact far worse than the bluenette could have predicted.

"I take it you mean the Life-Fibers in Uzumaki's body." Sastsuki grumbled, molding a face to intimidate the updated schematic which still defied her by showing the thick blood-vessel-like lineation snaking through Naruto's body like cracks on a glass pane.

Inumuta nodded wordlessly.

"And what about Senketsu?" Ryῡko stared at the back of the young man's head, trying to bore through it so she could read his expression.

"Well, none of my scans showed anything amiss with his structure." Both garment and girl let out a sigh of relief at this admission, though Inumuta had yet to look either of them in the eye just yet. "However, my scans never revealed anything else before, and so there's no way I can be sure that **thing,** whatever it is, isn't still affecting him."

Her expression sunk back into one of dismay, and the recently pressed and starched garment managed to slack with the amount of unknown straining his delicate weave.

"It seems if we want answers," Satsuki crossed her arms and turned her irritation to the subject in question, currently hogtied in the hospital bed with specially made Life-Fiber resistant bonds-for all the good they would do. ", we're going to have to wait for Uzumaki to wake up and tell us."

"Senketsu." His biological partner and friend calling his name stirred the Kamui away from his dark ruminations on Naruto's condition. But the tone she had used redoubled that worried feeling, for he knew what she was going to ask even before the words left her chapped lips. "You spent a lot of time with him. You must know what that was, what happened to the two of you."

She saw his lapels heave as if the cloth was issuing a sigh but did not hear a verbal response escape from that abstract mouth.

Had she not known that she was immortal, she would have worried about the stabbing feeling in her heart in response to the silence.

"I… think I know." Senketsu admitted at last, also not willing to meet her aggrieved gaze. "It's just… I'm not sure it's my place to tell you his secret."

"What?" Ryῡko was decidedly hurt by this reluctance. "What do you mean you won't tell me? If he's a danger to any of us, I have to know!" In truth, she was far more worried about what the indefinite effect Naruto's mysterious 'condition' had on Senketsu, rather than the potential harm he might do to any one of them.

"Hm?" It was impossible that her sister would have missed the now elevated conversation between the two of them, and she turned her attention from her pensive inner studies to whatever the gripe was between woman and wardrobe. "Does Senketsu know something about all this?"

Ryῡko bit her lip, remiss at her outburst and unsure of what to do now. Though she eventually conceded to give a tense nod, hoping her sister wouldn't ask her to pry the information from her friend. Satsuki stared back intensely, picking her apart with her eyes but eventually settling into an unsatisfied frown like she was waxing her eyebrows, which tentatively meant she wasn't going to press the matter on either of them.

Not yet, anyway.

"I'm sorry, Ryῡko." Senketsu apologized to the floor. "For everything. For not coming back sooner. For not letting you know somehow that I was still alive. For leaving you like I did."

"Baka." Everyone in the room flinched when her fist buried itself into the concrete wall. "You shouldn't be apologizing to me for that." She extracted her fist, watching as Senketsu's target eye tracked her now bleeding hand as she nursed it against her breast. "It ain't your fault." She twitched over to the sleeping blond, discontent in his slumber. "I don't blame you. Either of you. Not for that, anyway."

Senketsu felt a little bit of disappointment creep into his swelling pride like bile, but swallowed it before it contaminated the victory further. He supposed it would have to do, for now. Though he still felt guilty for not being able to bring himself to tell her about… **it.**

"Well, until I know more about what we are dealing with," Inumuta pursed his lips behind the high collar of his medical gown. "I am hesitant to try anything which might aggravate the situation in either of them."

Satsuki nodded in implicit approval.

"He's lasted this long." Sanageyama shrugged noncommittally from his unobtrusive position on the wall. "I doubt he'll kick the bucket in the time it takes him to wake up form his snooze." As he made his way out of the private hospital room, he shot the haggard blond an eager smile. "And when he does, I can't wait to see what else he can pull out of his ass. I haven't had a real challenge like that in too long."

"Seems like the uncouth Kanto Monkey finally found his match~" Jakuzure rolled her eyes at the ceiling and smiled conspiratorially as she made intimate motions with her pinky.

The swordsman pretended like he didn't hear her as he busted out the double doors with a huff, the pinkette floating after him not soon after, citing her need to practice for the orchestra tryouts. Inumuta also excused himself absently, mind preceding him and taking a left turn out of the door.

Meanwhile, it seemed Gamagōri was going to stick by Satsuki's side until formally dismissed, and she was not moving as long as Ryῡko hung back with the Life-Fiber being who had not left Naruto's side since being sewn up and dry-cleaned.

The delinquent woman squirmed in her seat whilst others occupied themselves with matters revolving around Uzumaki. She felt uncomfortable, not only because she didn't share in their obsession, but because she also felt like she was intruding on an intimate moment.

Which was ludicrous. _Naruto_ had been the one to rudely insert himself inter her life, using Senketsu as an excuse, and had been interrupting the otherwise perfect narrative her life was following after defeating the existential threat of Life-Fibers and High School.

Well, that wasn't quite true. She'd admit, that had the circumstances been different, she might have welcomed Uzumaki's disruption to her descent into monotony.

Even still, there was no denying she currently felt decidedly like a third wheel. An unaccustomed, and frankly unwanted feeling for the fiercely independent woman.

"Well, I've had enough of this shit!" She declared with a slap of her knees like a gunshot, shooting to her feet and surprising half the room. "Call me if anything changes." She looked meaningfully at Senketsu who had also hopped around on his stool perch to watch her leave.

"Ryῡko-"

"Just do what you want." She spoke, neither harshly or accusingly, but with a distinct flatness which made the sailor suit bunch up as she diffidently shoved her hands in the pockets of her red and white tracksuit and refused to meet his lingering gaze. "Just… take your time. I'll be waiting."

Senketsu was about to hop after her, realizing his mistake and hoping to catch it in time, only to be stopped by Satsuki with that firm hand of hers snagging him concernedly by the collar. He looked up at her as she watched her sister retreat down the hallway, a pall of emotions weighing like a lead cloak on her shoulders.

"My own reservations with Uzumaki are entirely rational." The woman admitted offhandedly. "I will be satiated once I get an explanation for his actions, regardless if I agree with them or not. But I do think I can understand how she must be feeling." She let go of Senketsu and brushed a stray lock of silken hair behind her ear, hiding whatever trace of emotion she threatened to expose with that meager confession.

"You must understand that none of this blame is on you, Senketsu." Her tone was clinical but managed to reassure the distressed fashion nonetheless.

"Maybe I do." He mumbled, entirely to himself as he realized the only one who could understand him within earshot was out cold. "But still…"

He had always been a slave to his biology- if one could even call it that. He had latched on to Ryῡko the same way he had with Naruto: without any conscious thought about the consequences. With Ryῡko it had been the machinations of men and destiny to make things work out. But him finding Naruto, and Naruto finding him… that wasn't the way the story was supposed to go. And who else could he blame?

It occurred to him that he might know the root cause of all the heartache, but he hesitated to blame Naruto for that fact, either. **HE** hadn't been given much choice in the matter with being stuck with that… thing.

Though it felt hypocritical to refer to the beast as such. They were both parasites in their own way.

Despite his silence, Satsuki still seemed to pick up on the subtle hints in the fabric's wrinkles that his mind refused to let the issue drop. And she was okay with this. Or rather, understood the failings of others. Not allowing herself such leniency, she did not begrudge it in the others, where clearly it was an effective remedy for change.

Their guilt and imperfections were all tools for them to improve themselves past the loftiest daydreams. They wouldn't let it stop them. They never had.

* * *

 _He knew they were all staring at him with looks of equal parts disbelief and revulsion. Although, now that he thought about it, the redhead was probably coping with her own impulse towards emesis by imagining his outfit superimposed on Sasuke. The crazed blush on her cheeks and wobble in her legs a dead giveaway that her thoughts were not on him._

 _He once again had to hide his own blush-one of pure mortification as he confronted his one-time friend and rival in an ensemble that made him question his_ _ **own**_ _sexuality._

" _Dobe." Sasuke was the only one yet to give anything towards the weirdness of the confrontation. "Why are you here?"_

" _You should know why by now, Sasuke." He quashed the extraneous emotions as thoroughly as he could, burying them beneath the mounds of regret which he had been piling up for three years now. There was no comparison. "I'm here to bring you back to Konoha." He tacked on as a twitch of revulsion entered into the stoic stare._

" _After all this time…you really think you can do it alone?" He rested a hand on the plain wooden hilt of his blade, "You've never even held a candle to me before, and I've gotten a lot stronger since the last time we fought. I don't even need Karin's help to tell me that you've hardly budged an inch from being dead last." He shifted lazily as Naruto growled and took a half-step closer towards him._

" _In fact," Sasuke held a finger on his chin underneath he wry and mocking smirk. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've gotten weaker. I can barely even sense your chakra now. Did you trade all of it in exchange for that hideous outfit?"_

 _Finally acknowledging the elephant in the room, Naruto gnashed his teeth together and stared at the ground. In his mind he could hear Senketsu try and reason with him, but he didn't comprehend the words past the mocking laughter coming from the other side of the field and the disparaging remarks he had roving around his own head._

" _You're right, Sasuke." Naruto spat out at last in a tone which made the Uchiha scion twitch, wondering if his rival had already decided to bring the Kyuubi out to play. "I_ _ **have**_ _changed, and I can no longer afford to hold back." He felt spikes grow from Senketsu's gloves and sleeves, transforming him into a walking porcupine not unlike his former sensei's Hari Jizō._

" _And I'm not alone."_

 _But the words were compulsory, forced from his mouth as he clung on to whatever excuse he needed to drive him forward. No matter how many occasions in their spare time he assuaged the garment in his insecurities, they both knew that there was a crack between them which even the heat of battle wouldn't refuse._

" _I've got real friends by me side." And like the proclamations he issued in his childhood, he truly wanted to believe these now with all his heart, but hardly realized when they fell short. "I made a promise to Sakura that I'd bring you back. And so that's what I intend to do." Because if he couldn't do this, he would never be able to fulfill his other promises._

" _We will see," Sasuke clearly though he had already glimpsed the future as he slid the blade like mercury out of its sheath. "…just how much power your supposed friends have brought you."_

" _Enough."_

" _For what, I wonder?"_

* * *

Senketsu leaned over the restless boy as he wiped away the sheen of sweat forming on his brow, letting it soak into his otherwise clean sleeve. He had witnessed enough of the episodes to know when Naruto was having a nightmare. He could even guess which one. He began to wonder if it was the Kyuubi causing this inner turmoil, or if it was only Naruto's own self-recrimination not letting him rest.

"You're so close to your goals, Naruto. Wake up, and you can finally realize them on your own."

Though the outfit would be lying if he said it wasn't also for his sake that he wanted the boy to awake and go back home. Only then could he be absolved, and himself return to serving his original purpose. Realizing his own dreams which were never anything but to serve Ryῡko in hers.

When the fever dream finally seemed to break and Naruto settled back down in the stained hospital bed, Senketsu allowed himself to slump down into his stool, nearly draping off the furniture in his weariness. He was running off fumes by now. Very potent, very corrosive fumes which would burn an entire forest like napalm with just a whiff, but fumes none the less.

"Hey." A slender and unblemished wrist thrust itself in front of his face, fist bent back and pressing the blue and red veins against the taught skin. "You're hungry right? Dig in."

"Ryῡko…" He stared blinking and hazily up at his better half, wondering if he was in a dream of his own.

"Hurry up, I'm not going to stand here all day." She snapped, but with a lopsided and strained grin on her face. "As much as I'd like you to get some rest, you should also be making sure you don't end up in bed like him. You need to eat."

And there it was. What he was waiting for all this time, and what he never should have doubted he deserved.

"But Ryῡko, what about-"

"Tch. I'm a grown woman. I don't give a rat's ass about cooties." She let the grin bleed into a feral smile, baring as much tooth as Naruto did. When had he started to compare him to her, and not her to him? They were two separate people, and he couldn't disrespect their individuality.

"What's the matter? Do I need to get you a straw?" Her normal cheeky banter restored, Senketsu, even though he **was** extremely hungry, almost didn't want to ruin the moment. "Quit 'yer staring. Fine! I'll do it myself-"

Pulling out the miniaturized Scissor Blade, Senketsu finally snapped from his daze and lunged at the hand holding the deadly instruments.

"That's really not necessary Ryῡko!"

"Of course it isn't, but you're just staring at it, starting to worry me! If you need a little help you shouldn't be ashamed to admit it."

"That isn't the issue-Quit it! You're going to hurt yourself!"

"I know what I'm doing you stupid suit! I'll only hurt myself if you keep trying to grab the blades-!

"-Whoops."

Both stared disconnectedly at the bi-color shears now planted in the woman's wrist, sticking straight up in the air like some alien flagpole.

"Eh, don't worry about it. I heal really fast, remember?"

She waved off the incongruously grievous injury and proceeded to yank the blades out with popping squelch even as Senketsu tried to dissuade her. She flinched when encountering more resistance than she surmised- evidently burying the beak of the tool firmly into her bone.

"Huh." This elegant one-word response to the geyser of blood streaming out of her wrist. "I guess it was deeper than I thought."

As the otherwise pristinely white room was being given a Jackson Pollock make-over, the sailor suit just stared half-lidded at his supposed leader, who merely kept her bleeding arm elevated as she scratched the back of her head with the other (this time careful not to poke herself with the stupidly sharp blades).

"Ya think?"

Naruto stared at the two of them with eyes which were twitching between irritation and sleepiness, his body itself debating whether it could afford to go back to sleep and wait out the end of this bizarre dream he found himself in without fear of drowning.

"Yeah…sorry about that."

Naruto's look or recrimination mimicked the Kamui's as a curtain of blood drenched the three of them and left only two pairs of eyes and one straggler staring at one another in the midst of the macabre comedy.

"Bite me."

* * *

"So…that was...a thing, huh?"

Being now both cleaned and sobered up, the three of them sat down at last to have a serious and hopefully private conversation. No Mako intruding in on them and swaying the argument with her sophistry logic (note: never argue with a fool, they never know when they've lost).

"Yeah."

Naruto tried to roll his eyes, but his reserves of sarcasm needed a top off, and he was still receiving maintenance for his other worn-out parts.

"Yeah."

Though she would never stoop to being accused a quitter, in this case Ryῡko was having a hard time holding on to her (very much justified) irritation for the blond.

When one gives a comparison, it is for the express purpose of conveying to the observer just how either similar or dissimilar those two things being compared are. In this case, when Ryῡko compared what she now knew about Naruto's life to her own, it was so that she could quantify and highlight the differences. Because the fact was that the two of them had eerily similar upbringings and burdens which really should have made them fast comrades, if for nothing else then the fact that both of their formative years sucked ginormous donkey-balls (the metaphor in that case making the blond blush with its colorful usage).

"Eloquent. The two of you."

"Oi, can it, Patches!"

"Why do you call him that?" She asked, with only a lingering accent of aggravation.

Naruto jabbed a finger at the crossed-shaped mark over Senketsu's other eye.

"Eyepatch. Patches." He shrugged, admitting it was childish and base. "Plus, he always gets cut up in battle and needs to be repaired."

"As I recall, you were the one always ending up in the hospital" The outfit grumbled accusingly. "Maybe I should have started calling you 'Frankenstein'."

"Yeah." Naruto admitted with a dour humor. "But I don't seem to need stitches much anymore. You know what I'm talking about, eh, Ryῡko?"

"Huh?" The moment Naruto had hinted Senketsu's frequent damage, a renewed wave of guilt crashed over her, making her huddle up in the comfy arm chair to ward off the cold chill. "Oh, yeah. The whole Life-Fiber healing thing."

Naruto withheld his concern for the young woman for the moment, hoping to press on and remind her that both she and Senketsu had more reason to be happy than to wallow in the past.

"Mm. And add that to my already ridiculous regeneration, I was practically invincible."

"Then why do you want to get rid of him?"

He couldn't tell what she was searching for in that probing gaze but gave himself a moment to breath and contemplate before he answered.

"I would have thought that'd be obvious by now." He tried to project the guilt she would expect, which was in truth almost at even keel with the bitter sense of loss, but which would be much more effective at excusing the non-answer.

"Well it isn't." She snapped, and Naruto flashed his eyes up from his thinly-covered legs.

"The Kyuubi was going to use him to escape. There was no way I'd allow that."

"Bullshit." She uncurled and planted both feet down firmly on the cold tile floor, the temperature difference between it and her blood making her legs ache. "That might be true now, but if you had known about it before, you would have sought out help first thing, instead of waiting eight months to drag your ass across the galaxy." She leveled him an accusing finger. "You would've told everyone about the Kyuubi first thing, so we would know what we were up against, instead of hiding it."

Naruto flinched, but wasn't going to let her put words into his mouth.

"And how do you know that?" He growled while still shrinking into his inclined bed. "I needed your help, and maybe I just didn't want to tell you about the Fox in case you refused to help me."

To his surprise, the young woman scoffed and shook her head.

"That isn't how you do things. You wouldn't put others in danger like that just to spare your feelings."

"And how would you know that?" Naruto mumbled black as licorice. "You don't know jack about me."

"I know, Uzumaki," She got up out of the seat with an eerie calmness and planted both hands on her hips as she loomed down over his seemingly helpless form. ", because I actually _listen_ when Senketsu tells me things."

He worked at the words in his mouth like cud, glancing between the silent garment and girl.

"You've got a martyr complex, Uzumaki." She shook her head disparagingly. "That's where our stories part. You willingly take on the world's issues- why I have no fucking clue. Me?" She jabbed a fingerless-gloved thumb at her chest. "-I don't take shit from anyone."

He stared at her pointedly, pondering these words. She began to feel uncomfortable under his unusually intense stare, and dropped her pose, turning broadside to the penetrating look. For some reason, under that blue intensity she felt more expose than when she was wearing Senketsu.

"I also don't need anyone else's approval for anything I do. I got Senketsu, and Mako who don't mind how I act or how I dress." She smirked at the risqué garment who smiled at the good-natured jab. "And now I've even got a sister and those other weirdos who follow her like lost puppies." She snorted. "I got more than I could ever even want, and it didn't come from me being a punching bag- well, not after the first few times anyway…"

She whispered the last part to herself with a blush, but she needn't have worried about being heard, because Naruto was still contemplating everything she had said to him over the course of the last few seconds.

"So you're saying… I should be more selfish?" He rolled the idea over in his mouth, not sure if he liked the taste.

"I guess." She gave a sidelong look at the floor, once again his seriousness setting her on edge. "Just don't be ashamed to be yourself. You shouldn't have to apologize for who you are."

The beginnings of his familiar grin slid in over his stony face.

"Is that the sound of you forgiving me?"

"Stuff it, Uzumaki. I said don't be ashamed for who you are, not what you've done."

He deflated again, and Ryῡko felt like punching herself.

"I've really fucked up, haven't I?"

"Can't say for the other things you did before coming here." She sighed, fidgeting on her feet, not comfortable sitting nor standing, nor even really being in the young man's presence. "But yeah, you kinda did by not letting us know the whole story." She threw a backwards glance at her friend and comrade. "That goes for you too, buddy. Don't think I'm letting you off the hook just yet."

While the sailor suit jabbered and sweated under the threat of ire, Naruto had long since gotten used to dealing with the vindictiveness of stubborn females, and was much more wrapped up in the very pertinent issues at hand.

"So watcha going to do now?"

His face scrunched up in a way that she passively admitted would be cute on someone far younger, and asked her demurely, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, how are you going to fix this?"

"Fix what?" Genuine puzzlement softening the tension. "Senketsu should be fine. Whatever Chakra from the Fuzzball which snuck into his Life-Fibers should have been pulled back when I tightened the seal. Any residual would have burned off." The partners looked surprised by this easy dismissal, though the garment mulled the theory over himself, wondering if he had learned enough about the ins and outs of Chakra during his time with Naruto to call it a bluff.

"But what about you?" The modest question derailed his train of thought.

"Me?"

"Yeah, 'you'. There are still Life-Fibers in your body. Don't you think that'll cause a problem?"

Naruto suddenly looked extremely weary, like he had been trying to avoid this question ever since he woke, hoping they wouldn't notice when he just slipped away one day never to return.

"Of course they will." His voice was flat, trying not to incite any sympathy but unwittingly earning the girl's ire at what she deemed a losing attitude. "Right now, they're not pulling as strong on my Chakra both because of their size, and the fact that I tightened the seal on the Kyuubi isn't letting as much out. I should be able to last long enough to get back home and do what I need to do."

"But what about your Chakra Control?" Senketsu spoke out for the first time in the concentration, realizing that apart from the blond, he was the only one who knew as much about the Jinchuuriki's body. "Won't the tightened seal affect that?"

"Yeah," he snorted. "It'll probably make it better because I'll have less of the Yokai flooding my system. And without your teething, I should have more than enough to summon a toad to take me back."

"But then what'll you do after?" Ryῡko asked him bluntly with knitted brows which reminded him of her sister.

"Save the world, of course." He gave the two of them a bright smile which he'd been saving up for the past week, trying to dredge up as much of his childlike personality as he could manage to imbue that confidence he was once so well known for.

"Didn't I tell you to stop feeding me bullshit, Uzumaki?" The toothy grin vanished as Ryῡko growled at him. "You know how resilient those fuckers are, you think that they're just going to go away after a while, leave you alone without your Chakra to fuel them?" He opened his mouth, but it wasn't a question, the fact which she illustrated by steamrolling over his words in inching closer to him. "No. They won't. They're going to suck you dry- Chakra or no. And even if you sealed that Fox-fucker down tighter than a nun's pussy he's not going to let them end you like that. I understand that much about him, if anything you or Senketsu's told me about it is true."

She had been slowly approaching his bedside all the while, and he watched as her clenched fist quivered out of the corner of his eye.

"So, tell me, you bastard," She leaned over and grabbed him by the scruff of his hospital gown while he passively let her, only serving to make her all the more furious. "What're you going to do after **that,** hm? You know that the demon's going to use the Life-Fibers to escape his prison, and what do you have that's going to stop him? You just going to let him take possession of you and run rampant over your world?" She shook him, as if trying to mug a response out of the uncharacteristically silent young man. But he just continued to stare at her with an increasingly hardened gaze. "-Or are you just going to let'm loose yourself and be done with it? Pat yourself on the back for the one good deed you did in your life."

"Don't," He warned, eyes as hard as azurite as he latched onto her arms around his neck. "Don't pretend to know what I'm thinking. And don't you dare pretend that you-"

"Don't what? That I don't care about what happens to your pathetic excuse for a life?" The hand on her wrist tightened, and she was sure that if she had been any normal woman it would have snapped by then.

"I could tell you some sort of bullshit about honor that a ninja-guy like you might understand- something about how I can't let someone who's worn Senketsu defile his name and whatnot, but I'm not going to do that. Unlike you, Uzumaki, I'm going to tell the truth, and you know what that truth is?" There was no attempt at an answer, only continued fireballs being flung back and forth between the two of them in close quarters. "The truth is that you piss me off, Uzumaki. And I'm not dumb enough to not know that the only reason is because love, hate, they're two sides of the same fucking coin."

Like someone had severed the cord controlling his animosity, Naruto felt all the prickly feelings leave him and he was suddenly left without power entirely, his arm falling limp and the angered glow in his eyes diminishing as they opened wide.

"W-What?"

"Tch." She shoved him roughly back in the bed, and for a brief moment when she turned around he thought he caught a ruddy hue which had nothing to do with the splattering of blood which had all but stained everything in the once white room. But then she turned back to him, and it was gone.

"Yeah, what of it? I'm not petty enough to deny that you've grown on me. Hell, if it weren't for circumstances I might have found you to be a pretty fun guy to hand around. I already told you that we were a lot alike." She crossed her arms and glowered at the floor, trying to scour the coagulated patch of blood on the tile. "But then again, things being as they are, I probably never would have met you anyways if it weren't for circumstances."

"That's why I need to head back as soon as possible, so you can just forget about this whole thing and move on with your life." He spoke as if he hadn't heard the last few sentences, and doing so, realized very quickly this was a mistake.

"Yeah, and I never would have gotten Senketsu back if it weren't for you, so pretty hard to forget about your ugly mug." She huffed, showing admirable restraint in that she wasn't beating him over the head like Sakura might.

To be fair, he had vastly underestimated Matoi Ryῡko.

"For better or worse…"

"… I guess you're stuck with me." Naruto finished for her, happy to see the snarky smile which reminded him so much of Sasuke, and yet so decidedly not that depressing teen.

"Try not to make me regret it."

"I promise I won't."


	7. Back on the Chain Gang

**Soooo... yeah. I don't really know what's up with this chapter. I'm running on almost no sleep, no energy, and no motivation. I guess you could say I'm on a Low Budget*.**

 **Meh, going to grab some food and get back to it.**

* * *

Naruto found himself alone for the first time in many days. And confined as he was to the hospital bed while well-intentioned busybodies fussed over his vitals and functions, he had little else to do but sit and stare at the malignant discoloration slowly spreading across his skin. The necrotic-looking tissue the color of bruised flesh crept across his body at a glacial pace, and yet he could not help but watch its minute-by-minute progress, the age-old adage about watched pots coming to mind.

Sadly, even with his eye constantly fixated on it, it was hard to miss the inexorable progression. For what started as a postage-stamp sized mole on his arm had quickly become a sleeve encompassing the entirety from his elbow to his shoulder and gave no signs of slowing down any time soon.

However, unlike the corrosive leprosy which it so closely resembled, this was not a whittling away at his body. It was in fact adding to the layers of derma. And rather than the rough sandpaper-like feeling he expected, the material was surprisingly pleasant to the touch when he dared run a ghosting hand over its surface.

It was smooth. Far smoother than anything he had ever worn before, and probably ever would again, for this otherworldly cloth (did a Life-Fiber-Yokai blend constitute paranormal, or just synthetic?), had no intention of dethatching itself anytime soon.

At least until it overcame his body and consumed his mind.

As much as he would like to embrace the madness which the monotony around him brought, his mind insisted on wandering in its boredom to an even more troublesome focus. For he had no idea what was going on back on his home-planet, and thus had no idea how close one Kaguya Ōtsusuki was to being resurrected and enacting her own nefarious scheme for world domination.

It was uncanny just how similar these situations were. Both the Life-Fibers and the Rabbit Goddess being aliens descended from the heavens, bequeathing unto humanity a powerful and terrible gift which would inevitably overtake and consume them in its meteoric boost to evolution.

Perhaps, however, the gift of Chakra was the crueler punishment. Because while the Life-Fibers injected themselves like a disease to the detriment of the host, the only one his people had to blame were themselves for so twisting the principles lain down by the Sage.

"I know what you're thinking."

"Oh?" He gave no indication he had been surprised by the silent intrusion.

"It's written all over your face." Ironic, from the woman who had but one emotional setting carved underneath those furry overhangs. "You think that it would be far better for everyone if you were to disappear into a black hole, someplace where there was no coming back for either you or your many burdens. You have already given up, and thus have already lost."

"Jee, aren't you a ball of sunshine? Your sister seems to have more faith in me than that." He said without any stock in his own words, still refusing to meet the forever overbearing gaze of Satsuki Kiryuin.

"And is she right to do so?"

Rather than flinch at this loaded barb, Naruto insisted on continuing to monitor the imperceptible changes in his Life-Fiber sleeve.

"Depends."

"What kind of cowardly answer is that?"

"It depends," He clenched the muscles in his arm as if to shred the skin-tight fabric, but all it served to do was to highlight the morbidly beautiful pattern of midnight indigo. "On what it is you all expect of me."

He released the tension in his arm with a sigh, both his and without his notice, Satsuki's, who was on edge from the intensity of emotion unwittingly given off by that simple gesture.

"It would be so much easier, probably better in the long run too, if I were just to give up as you say." She refused to shiver as his half-lidded eyes finally tore away from his possessed body part and made their way to her. "Another tangle of Life-Fibers down the drain. And hell, I don't even know if the Kyuubi could even reform this far away from a source of Chakra. Hard not to see it as a win-win-win. You could have your nerds stop burning the midnight oil and just set me up with a date for Ryῡko to shred me with those oversize clippers. And then 'BAM!' I'm out of your hair forever."

"How could you possibly be so pathetic?" She asked him as if she truly expected an answer, which was so unusual that he couldn't help his own furrowed brow from twitching upwards. "I would have thought someone capable of controlling a Kamui would be so much… more."

"Well, _excuse_ me." For all the good it was worth, it was very clear that she took his morose attitude as a personal offense and was not about to let him off the hook just because he asked sarcastically. "I didn't have much of a choice to be sidled with one in the first place, and the whole reason I can even stand to wear Senketsu is due to another part of my life I can't control."

She shook her head slowly, still looking down her nose at him from where she loomed at the far side of the room. But, however incongruously, her enraged aura appeared to diminish, ever so slightly.

"Being capable of wearing Life-Fiber garments isn't about what's in your blood. You simply have to decide that that's what you're going to do." He cocked his head in cautious interest. "It's about what's in your heart, Uzumaki Naruto. You wouldn't have made it this far if you didn't have the drive to succeed."

He couldn't help himself. His mouth spread wide in snow-capped grin and he let loose a heady chortle. In the far corner of his crinkled eyes, he could swear he saw Satsuki's lips betray a slight twitch.

"To have Ryῡko in my corner was surprising enough. But to receive approval from the honorable Satsuki-chan?" He let the insinuation hang there like a piñata, half-expecting the woman to take a swing at him. But he should have known that the venerable Lady would not lower herself to so feeble a jest.

She increased her smirk, reminding Naruto that her sister often had a similar expression, and crossed her arms in mock-defiance.

"Don't get too far ahead of yourself, Uzumaki."

"Hate to break it to you, princess, but that's my MO."

It was strange how just a week ago- just a few days ago even that smile on the blond's face would have had her drawing her blades in distrust. Now she just watched him chuckle and shake his head, almost wishing she could be as relaxed.

"Maa, maa. Not to cheapen your little pep-talk, but I wasn't really that suicidal." He scratched the back of his hair which had grown considerably longer from the tight crop he had first shown up with. "Just getting a bit tired from being so cramped up in here, y'know?"

The stoic woman kept half the smirk but leaned back against the recently bleached wall (it had taken the entire janitorial staff to cleanse the room, Life-Fiber blood was evidently much more caustic than the standard), showing that she was falling into a more casual repartee.

"I can understand your sentiment, but sadly I still think it is inadvisable to let you wander about outside, lest something suddenly change with your condition."

Naruto puckered up and folded his arms, but this time it was without malice, and more like a petulant child throwing a tantrum. She found it was startling just how fast his demeanor could change.

"Man, this sucks! I haven't even been able to get out of bed to pee! Couldn't I just stretch my legs a little bit? I promise I wouldn't even have to go outside your fancy little playground."

Her astonishment quickly giving way to irritation, Satsuki bristled at the slight to her proud Academy, but kept her cool and gave nothing away.

"I think that should be perfectly fine." Another voice interjected before she could satisfy her vindictiveness by bursting the young man's bubble. "As long as you stay within the walls of Honnouji, we should be able to get to you fast enough."

"Are you sure that is wise, Inumuta?" Satsuki asked the newest arrival, hoping her tone would betray her personal opinion on the matter.

"I do not know how to quantify wisdom," The blue haired man admitted as he floated into the room, absently checking the mosaic of computer screens hanging above his bedside. "But there is very little chance that something would arise that would require immediate attention, not hindered by a few minutes more or less."

Which actually wasn't saying much, because it left out the part where Inumuta wasn't sure if they could solve the problem which would arise **at all**. Time not being a factor in that zero-sum game.

Though Naruto apparently missed this, tracking the young man in his wanderings around the room's various instruments, the Student Council President did not, and promised to have a talk with the technical genius about how serious a possibility they were talking about.

"Well, if that is the case," Satsuki cringed, bracing herself for what was likely to come next. "I suppose we could allow Uzumaki free reign around the Academy Grounds-"

"YATTA!"

Almost faster than the two of them could blink, Naruto had outstripped his bindings and was already hurling himself out of the room. Though she would never verbally admit it, it was only by sheer luck that the incredible woman managed to catch him by the scruff of his neck, and even more fortunate that her arm wasn't torn off by the human cannonball.

"-IF, that is, he promised not to go outside the bounds of the academy and consented to wearing a tracking device at all times." She dialed up the overbearing in her tone, trying not to show the strain on her appendage.

"Pinky promise!" He held up the rosy digit with innocent earnest.

"And for goodness sake," Satsuki sighed in exasperation, pinching the tiny gap underneath her knitted eyebrows. "put some clothes on."

"Oh, heh, heh…" He looked down and quickly tugged on the bottom of the flimsy shift which had rose up **considerably** in his efforts to escape. "Would you believe I forgot?"

"Yes," She dropped him unceremoniously and strutted out of the room, hoping no one would notice her nursing her shoulder. "Yes, I would."

* * *

"Yosh! It sure does feel great to be outside!"

Though there was no denying this statement, he did not quite feel as good as he thought he would. Though that could have something to do with his state of dress. The only thing available at the time was a spare Academy uniform, bare-bones basic military-esque garb which rode up uncomfortably in his armpits and threatened to choke him with the 'standing' collar. The worst part was, he wasn't even allowed to modify it, the suit itself technically still being school property.

' _At least my hair is all mine, my teeth are my own, but all my everything else is on permanent loan!'*_

It was truly disheartening. Never before had he been quite this destitute, and never, ever did he think he would be bemoaning the loss of that Sailor Suit.

Not for quality of company, mind. Just that even for the inventor of the touted 'Sexy-no-Jutsu', he didn't think the avant-garde cut suited him.

"Damn this itches…"

"Yeah, budget cuts did a wonder for the whole school." Naruto pretended to be surprised when Sanageyama approached him coolly from the tucked-away door in the side of the unadorned building, stepping out from the shade of an overly-large pipe which looked more decorative than functional. "You should have been here back when we'd 've given someone of your skill a Goku uniform."

"Heh, maybe." Naruto conceded with a crack of the neck over his shoulder. "But I think I'd still be spoiled in general. I guess you can consider me a connoisseur of Life-Fiber garments now."

The formerly blind kendo practitioner gave a grin not unlike his blond counterpart. "Yeah, I can tell you have _excellent_ tastes in clothing."

Even though it seemed like the two of them were born to into easy banter, Naruto surprised Sanageyama by dropping the carefree grin.

"Oi, don't go making fun of Senketsu, or I'll make you regret it."

"Easy, man, easy. Just a joke, ya'know?" Still smiling uncomfortably, the green-haired man raised his crossed arms in a sign of reconciliation, which Naruto accepted with a curt nod of the head.

Without missing a beat and making Sanageyama wonder whether he had seen it at all, Naruto swapped out his growing ill-humor for an easy smirk, leaving no trace of the dark flash which colored the conversation. The deathly air which encroached on the whole scene vanished like the snapping of a string.

"Still, wish Ryῡko's dad was a little less color blind. Senketsu wouldn't look half bad with a bit of orange."

Pretending like he wasn't still smoothing out goosebumps on the back of his neck, Sanageyama chuckled and shook his head. "Man, for a guy who can claim to be so powerful, you sure got a twisted sense of fashion."

"Oh, so now you're going to go and insult my favorite color? You just don't learn, do you?" He replied, making the other young man choke halfway on his own saliva. Even though this threat was clearly meant to be purely in jest, the carefree way he jabbed that fresh wound was… disquieting. "I don't need to teach you a lesson, do I?" The smile he wore now was no different that the one he first greeted him with, but nonetheless managed to make the older male question his decision to seek out the newcomer.

He had wanted to test out Uzumaki Naruto's skills without a Kamui to either help or hinder him. And with his own 'naked' state, he wanted to test himself against a worthy opponent, seeing as Ryῡko and Satsuki could still wipe the floor with the lot of them. That, and the other three didn't lend much to variation in the routine when he sparred against them all the time.

But he was a prideful monkey, and staunchly territorial. And even if he knew the battle was stacked against him, he wouldn't hesitate to rise to the challenge. And he wasn't going to deny that Uzumaki was strong. His eyes had been opened to that fact long ago.

"Eh, maybe you do." He spoke calmly, unclasping his shinai from over his shoulder and dropping into a loose stance. "I must admit that I don't know too much about your sneaky ninja skills. Why don't you give me a demonstration?"

Naruto's smile broadened, elevating the excited rush on both sides before sliding his feet under his center of mass and rolling his shoulders. "Well, can't claim to know much about 'sneaky' ninja moves, but I'll show you what I got if you show me your moves."

"Deal."

* * *

"Boys."

"Mmhm."

As the small training field exploded in motion beneath them, Satsuki and her sister decanted in the lazy afternoon sun, the breeze kicked up from the fighting tussling each of their raven locks and teasing the loose fringes of Senketsu's folds. They all watched with disinterest plastered all over their face like a mud-mask, but out of the corner of each of their eyes were observing the play by play like a hawk and kestrel.

"Eeeee... Looks like fun!"

…And one neurotic pigeon which insisted on crashing in on their tea party.

"Want to join them, Mako?" Ryῡko shot a crooked smile at her friend.

"Nah, I'd just get my clean clothes dirty. Besides! It's Sunday, the day where it's 100% mandatory to relax and enjoy a lazy day with friends. Could you pass the croquettes, Ryῡko-chan?"

"Sure." One hand proffering the overburdened platter and the other crossing over to raise her cup to the delicate spout which was waiting on her, eyes never leaving the flashes of yellow and green many stories beneath.

"Thank you, Soroi." Satsuki offered on behalf of her sister who was busy making sure her friend did not choke on a croquette which held a bone that had snuck in past the eagle eyes of Ms. Mankanshoku.

"Of course, Satsuki-sama." The butler nodded demurely. "Mankanshoku-san, would you like to have a tea cake?"

"Mph? Sfure!" As soon as she had released the clog, the young girl went back to the Sisyphean struggle of trying to fill her bottomless stomach. "Mmm! Oishi! These are so good!"

"Do you like them? They are an old family recipe…"

"So, I take it you didn't ask me here strictly for tea?"

Once it was obvious her friend was completely occupied with the over-complicated process Satsuki's butler had connived and implemented on the young lady's bequest, Ryῡko craned her neck to look at her sister sitting primly in seiza with her cup and saucer displayed prominently at chest height, and immediately jumped to the matter at hand.

"Obviously not, or I would have suggested we go somewhere…" *BOOM* "…quieter."

"Alright," The younger girl shrugged, chugging back the bitter and still steaming liquid like a shot of whisky, much to her sister's ire, and proceeded to twirl the now empty cup on the end of her pinky. "So, spill it. What's up?"

"Uzumaki."

"Huh." She gave a scoff of hollow laughter. "I could have told you that." But her easy confidence was dismissed in the next second, and she hardened her already sharp looks on her sister. "So what's the new matter?"

"Nothing new." Satsuki admitted, calmly sipping the milky-brown brew and precipitating a twitch of irritation in the other. "Part of it was just to observe what he does, given a longer leash."

That statement chipped another shard around the stony visage Ryῡko adopted, one step closer to an arrowhead.

"So you're just treating him like a lab rat now?" Unbelieving that her sister could be _that_ callous, knowing Ryῡko's own hang-ups with that matter.

A mutely raised eyebrow. "I would not have guessed you'd have cared that much about Uzumaki."

"Tch." Sadly, not even a hint of a blush that she was hoping for. "Just didn't think you were still that much of a bitch."

"Someone has to act the adult here." Satsuki shut her eyes, so she wouldn't be tempted into an argument with her sister. She was adamant about one of them taking the lead. "But no, I do not consider Uzumaki an experiment, at least not so much that I ignore his humanity." She set her teacup down carefully amongst the woven baskets and lacquered boxes containing dozens of different kinds of finger-food.

"I merely mean that I want to see how he handles himself out of us constantly restricting his movements. For example," She gestured to the battle below which was lasting far longer than Ryῡko honestly though it would. "Is he aware enough not to use his chakra so wantonly? Each time he draws on it, it risks accelerating the growth of the life fibers. And while I am sure Inumuta and Lori would love the observational data, I hardly think it is worth the risk."

Ryῡko nodded, not looking at her sister but finally understanding what she was getting at.

"Also, will the Life-Fibers deign to aid him in battle? How do his abilities react with them? And most important of all…" A loud crash and cloud of smoke almost reaching the roof they set up their patchwork quilt on separated the sentence but did not interrupt the thought "… will his tenant make an appearance?"

Though her face betrayed nothing, never swaying away from the battle which now had four players instead of two, Senketsu could feel the churning emotions in his partner's body. Disquieted burbles in her stomach which had nothing to do with the questionable meal.

"Part of me almost hopes it does." This was enough of a surprise that Ryῡko whipped her head around to stare with hollow eyes at her unerringly composed sister. "I think that it, or rather Uzumaki's working relationship with it is key. While the tightening of the seal may have helped us in our goals, it is detrimental for him in both the long and short run."

"Did you," The words came out before the idea fully emerged from the sludge of lunacy. "Did you order the Elite Four to attack him?"

A second's pause which poised the dainty teacup over her mouth hid Satsuki's smile from the world. "…happy coincidence." And there was no inflection in her voice to say differently.

Though the delinquent girl stared suspiciously at her sister for a moment longer, she decided that it was ultimately not worth quibbling about, and so turned back to where the match was just wrapping up.

"Damn. Missed it."

* * *

"Don't blink."

Sanageyama had heeded this advice, even though he considered it superfluous, considering he had both Shingatsῡ and Tengatsῡ now at his disposal. As it turned out, he would need both of them just to keep up with Naruto's natural speed. And even then, to see it wasn't enough and he had to be able to react to each probe of his defense with celerity.

Then came the matter of blocking. Or what passed for it, at least.

' _Damn!'_ The kendo master cursed as Naruto tested his strength yet again with a punch that had him digging his heels into the dirt. _'This wouldn't nearly be as hard with my Blade Regalia, but then I'd have to face him with Senketsu.'_ Either way was not looking appealing in the current situation.

And yet, they were both grinning like idiots.

"HA!"

Deciding he'd been forced on his back foot for too long, Sanageyama broke the losing stalemate, swinging low at Naruto's legs and forcing the young man to leap into the air before he could attack his backside. This was what the swordsman wanted, though, and darted out with a stab straight down the pike at the airborne target. The attack hit home but crashed on Naruto's folded arms.

Still, it sent the blond flying backwards, giving Sanageyama enough time to catch his breath. But he wouldn't risk it and decided to seize the advantage while it was there. He charged across the hardened surface, footprints digging into the ground like a hailstorm as he bridged the gap in several fractions of a second.

"MEN!" He threw himself into the air above Uzumaki, intent on nailing him to the ground. The strike drew Naruto's block above his head.

"DO!" The side swipe was anticipated, and he caught the blond's brief grin as he yanked himself towards Sanageyama for close-quarters combat.

But this is what the swordsman wanted.

The instant Naruto's fist collided with the exposed chest of the samurai, the man disappeared entirely, revealing that it had been an afterimage. The only question was, for how long?

Naruto was used to those who were faster than him, and so was only minorly surprised when a whirling top of the wooden blades tumbled out at him from his blind and exposed side.

"KOTE!"

There were too many blows to keep track of them all as they dug into his side one after another. And the ground which came too soon after that made it all redundant, anyway. But as he lay in the gingerbread indent he made in the ground, Naruto couldn't knock the smile off his face as he found someone who could push him to go harder.

And for the first time in a long time- now that he thought about it, for the first time **ever** , he was fighting all on his own.

Sanageyama landed in a deep crouch, balancing his narrow stance with the two shinai in either hand held out to his sides. He watched the motionless crater with a cautious anticipation, trying hard to not congratulate himself too soon.

Though vindicated in his warrior instincts, he couldn't pat himself on the back even then, for he had to throw himself backwards to avoid the ground exploding up in his face. He arrested his ballistic motion by jabbing the points of his bamboo swords into the earth, skidding to a stop and already coiled to throw himself back at the target.

"Baka! Don't you understand that I can sense things in every direction?!"

"Heh, you're not the first…" Naruto smirked to himself as he fell through the air amongst the debris, once again a plump target for the grounded swordsman. "…and you're not going to be the last!"

Sanageyama tried to stop himself again, as in the middle of his charge Naruto started to lob the falling rock at him with those inhuman punches. But he'd already invested too much momentum into the sprint, and only managed to narrowly dodge the first before the second, and every subsequent one slammed into him like grains of sand at the beach kicked up by a gust of wind.

He braced himself with both reinforced bamboo staves held parallel in front of his face. But weathering the earthen rain was like riding out a hailstorm as an ant, and each blow rattled his bones.

He chanced a look the moment he sensed there were no more stones to throw, and he hadn't felt Uzumaki touch the ground yet.

"Where-"

"YOSH!" He heard it only a modicum too late, the rush of wind as it peeled around a leg swinging at near sonic speeds towards his head.

He might have lost consciousness then, but caught himself on his weapon, all weight braced against the lone shinai propping his body up like a bridge.

It was only afterwards, as he was flying backwards through the air due to another punch which sent him flying away from the blond, that he considered that the last rock Naruto had hurled at him had been big enough for him to jump off of.

"Itai…"

Naruto whined soon afterwards, shaking his throbbing hands, trying to restore some of the feeling in the burning appendages. While it had been fun to copy Sakrua-chan's move, it certainly wasn't a good idea to try it again without a carefully applied layer of chakra over his knuckles.

"Eh? That it?" Hands returned to normal hue and proportions, Naruto stared quizzically after the dust cloud which followed Sanageyama's untimely exit.

"SANAGEYAMA! GET YOURSELF TOGETHER! YOU MUST UPHOLD THE HONOR HONNOUJI'S ELITE FOUR!"

"Heh." Naruto let out a breathy laugh as he shed the flimsy jacket of his uniform (hoping they wouldn't collect on the damage to the substandard garment), leaving him in a sweat-stained tank-top and gray trousers. "Round two starts-"

"-NOW!"

He hadn't expected them to be surprised, but was even happier to see that they were more than willing to play along. The big one charging in like he had been given a written invitation, Sakura's chibi hanging back for the moment to make faces while the green-haired man could do nothing about it.

His own fist looked pathetically small compared to the massive paw of Gamagōri (seriously, he shouldn't have a hard time finding a job out of school. He knew a bridgebuilder who would love to have that kind of force multiplier at his disposal). But anyone who had seen the two's first confrontation weren't surprised that Naruto was able to hold him back. In fact, it was more surprising that he was even giving ground to the big man.

"Dang, seems like I can't spare that much chakra…"

The chakra he had been using to augment his physique previous to this had been but a tiny nugget spread into an infinitesimally thin sheet which he use to blanket his muscles. He knew he had to be conservative with its use, lest he incite the Life-Fibers out of their semi-hibernation.

So he couldn't afford to match the big man blow for blow. Not with this little advantage.

He leapt back and watched as Gamagōri tracked his movement, patiently waiting for Naruto to reorganize his strategy.

"Awfully nice of him." Naruto muttered, touching off the ground and landing in a three-point crouch.

"Silly Fox~ the Toad's not doing it for your sake!" That irksome voice called out above him.

"YOU CHALLENGED THE ELITE FOUR! YOU CHOOSE TO FACE US ALL!"

(Inumuta sneezed somewhere in the midst of the concrete complex, cursing as his cup-ramen dribbled on his keyboard)

"ALRIGHT!" Naruto exclaimed, pounding his fists together (and trying to hide his wince as he did so). "Finally! A challenge at last!"

"Do not let your arrogance cloud your judgement, Uzumaki." Gamagōri warned stoically as he touched a fist to the earth. "It is unbecoming."

"Thanks for the warning." He answered in kind, glancing up to where the pinkette was surfing some kind of mechanical construct. "You tell her that?"

The big man heaved a sigh that was like the whistle of a train.

"Too many times…"

"My condolences."

But there was no more banter as he suddenly had to avoid getting skewered by a salvo of… drumsticks?

"I thought you were supposed to be a human orchestra?" He quipped, flipping back and forth like a jack to avoid the automatic fire which reminded him of Haku.

"Uncouth Fox, any instrument can be in an ensemble," as if to make her point, the sides of her flying surfboard unfurled to reveal tensioned strings like a harp. "You really need to listen to more music!"

Unexpectedly dropping out of the air, she tried to Julianne him with the razor wire, kicking up the back of the board as he backpedaled. He then found Gamagōri behind him, blocking out the sun and moving far faster than anyone that large had any right to. He couldn't avoid it, though, when the big man wrapped him up in a bear-hug.

"HMPH! Pathetic! To think that you could fall for such a simple trick! Now you will reap the discipline of- what?!"

Staring with sever, bug eyes, Gamagōri had to shake himself and look twice as Naruto stood next to the vertically stored sailboard, grin threatening to wipe off every other feature on his face and waving to him like an idiot.

"Heh, oldest trick in the book." And one which hardly took any chakra at all, and was especially easy to use with his increased control.

"So is this!" He paled as a familiar voice cried out above him.

"MEN! DO! KOTE!"

But by the time the last strike impacted, the blond turned ragdoll had disappeared in a puff of smoke. And even as the wispy vapors entered through his agape mouth, it was banished from his lungs as a fist planted itself in his gut.

"Second verse," Jakuzure leapt at him now from Gamagōri's chest after thoroughly chewing out the big man for trapping her by mistake. "Same as the first!"

Although she might have appreciated the music reference, he doubted the pink pipsqueak would be talking to him at all after he kicked her from the air. Though he cursed himself as he realized that she took the blow so that she would be forced over to her weaponized transport.

He couldn't lament this mistake for too long, as very soon he was interrupted by the charging behemoth and the girl herself seeking revenge with equally bloodthirsty missiles seeking his body heat.

"Three on one? That hardly seems fair." The gripe carrying no weight as his voice lilted with a viscous levity. "Well, maybe I should just even the playing field!"

It was a strange feeling channeling his chakra this time, for it was as if he could feel each and every quantile flowing through his pathways. And when he molded it, it almost didn't seem like enough when he finally had it all in one space.

But true to his word and his desires, two clones manifested themselves perfectly at his behest- without the use of handseals.

"Well, that's a pleasant surprise." He gave his doppelgangers a high-five each before they split in opposite directions to take care of their assigned targets.

"Don't let him separate you." Gamagōri asserted control of his comrades.

"Tch, as much as I'd like to let you losers lie in the bed you made, I suppose I can't go and back out of it now!" The sole female sent her green-haired nemesis a glare and a smirk a piece.

"Hmph! You just want to use us as an excuse when Uzumaki kicks your ass!" Sanageyama shot back with an equally irreverent grin.

"There is never any shame in losing as long as you have given it your all." Gamagōri reminded them all.

 _Then I best do the same!_

Still trying to restrain his chakra usage, Naruto limited himself to one clone which instantly morphed into a fuma shuriken upon summoning, which he flung into the midst of the trio.

"MEN!" Came the expected shout of Sanageyama, just as they were about to dodge the projectile weapon he thrust his shinai into the empty handhold and proceeded to boomerang it back around at its thrower.

Halfway through his reversing arc, however, the shuriken dispelled and revealed the original clone who swung off the end of the bamboo sword like a set of monkey bars and kicked out at Gamagōri who had been momentarily distracted by the other approaching clone.

But the clone's attack was a rhino's tail batting away the pesky flies, and that's exactly what the armored man did to it as soon as he felt the tiptoeing on his back. He grabbed the clone by its shocked face and hurled it at the one still trying to encircle him.

Not stopping in its stride, this clone sprung off the back of the doomed one and lunged at Gamagōri with a cocked fist, which he intended to meet head on. Despite knowing that Uzumaki was an almost even match for him in strength, and with the added speed advantage could well get the drop on him.

But the cocked arm turned out to be just a ploy as another Naruto slid in from the side, latching onto the other's balled fist and using the dynamic motion to fling himself at the charging Gamagōri at even greater speeds. The man tensed his abdominal muscles under the steel plates in preparation for the impact, but even then, knew it was not going to feel pleasant.

"Heads up!"

Sailing in under his mountainous raised fists, Jakuzure stabbed the point of her board straight into the clone's stomach, dispelling it and shrouding the two of them in a small cloud of smoke.

"Jakuzure! What about the other one?"

"Already taken care of!" She replied with a waggle of her nose.

"Good job!" The haughty smile morphed into puckered fear as the uninvited guest poked his head out from the underside of her hoverboard. Naruto swung himself over the edge and booted the girl off her ride once again. And gripping the edge of the flat plain, he swung it at Gamagōri's chest.

There wasn't even enough air left in his lungs to cry out as the reinforced carbon-fiber vehicle slammed into his armor, caving in the steel to the point where it's only continued utility would be as a bunt-cake mold. Even Naruto himself had to wince as the big man went flying back into the school yet again.

"I really hope they don't make me pay for property damage…"

"You should have thought about that before!"

"ITAI!"

Naruto dropped the board as a pointy foot burrowed into his shin, Jakuzure glowering at him but picking up her transport with as much dignity as her frazzled and scuffed looks could muster.

"Serves you right!"

"MEN! DO! KOTE!"

Hopping on one foot to avoid the strikes left Naruto no time to retort, as he had to retreat yet again. He bobbed and weaved under another flurry of strikes, wishing not for the first time that he had some kind of weapon at his disposal. But having the wooden sword tickle his nose hairs yet again, he suddenly had an idea.

Backflipping and kicking the charging Sanageyama at the same time, he palmed two of the band leader's drumstick projectiles as he pushed off the ground. He gave them an experimental twirl with his wrists, lamenting the light weight but liking the similar length they gave compared to a kunai.

"Guess they'll have to do."

He'd soon find out as the green-haired swordsman charged him again. He flung the two in his hands like knives to the surprise of the other teen, and quickly picked up two more from the plethora of wooden stakes scattered about. And not letting them be with merely dodging two well-thrown projectiles, he made a half-seal and called out the name of his follow-up.

"Shuriken-er-Drumstick- Kage-Bushin-no-Jutsu!"

Contrary to the less-than stellar name given to it, the attack inspired feelings of fear as a tsunami of shives barreled down on the two. Miffed at having her preliminary attack tossed back at her, Jakuzure turned her board broadside and let the splintery projectiles pelt the armored underbelly. Next to her, Sanageyama pulled out a propeller-like maneuver which batted away most of the incoming ballista from his personal bubble.

Though he knew he was getting reckless, the adrenaline which fueled Naruto's continued attacks kept pressing him into relying on more and more ninjutsu. Had he been aware of anything but the sheer pleasure he was taking in this overdue exercise, he might have noticed the ceaseless and sultry voice which masked itself under the words of Gamagōri, telling him to give it his all.

And what pleasure it was.

Cocking back his other arm in preparation for another move, he hesitated in his plan of action and that alien instinct chose instead to go a different route.

If fighting was a forbidden pleasure, channeling wind Chakra for the first time in months was nothing short of ecstasy, rivaling in his virgin mind the yet unknown carnal desire.

The wooden spike left his hand flying straighter than any bullet, the air itself bowing and moving out of the way in deference.

Jakuzure had just hopped back atop her ride when it shuttered under her feat. She only had time to glance downwards at the mechanical ride when it burst, belly out like snake fed a firecracker, the wooden drumstick careening off past it into the open air.

But neither she nor Sanageyama had much time to worry about the wayward weapon, for the explosion knocked the two of them far apart. The pink-haired girl shooting farther up into the air that she had wanted to go, and the swordsman once again familiarized with the foul-tasting dirt of the academy courtyard.

Helpless witness to it all was Gamagōri who was still nursing head and stomach when the tiny woman began her downward arc.

"Jakuzure!" Leaving his pain behind in the hole, he rushed out to arrest her fall as he had so recently done for Naruto and Satsuki.

"Here she is!"

Naruto appeared right before his eyes, appearing in a whirlwind next to the ragdoll girl and flinging her at him faster than he would have liked. Her tiny body smashed into his bulk, irritating his preexisting bruises, but not deterring him in his effort to protect his comrade.

The action of camaraderie only made the ecstatic blond smile more.

He was still going to cream them, though.

Gamagōri tried landing on his feet, but was pushed unceremoniously onto his rear by the overwhelming momentum of his own mass. And before he could even sit back up, another body came hurling into the two of them, the collision making a rubbery sound as well as an ungainly pile of limbs as the Elite Three sprawled helplessly one on top of the other.

"Alright!" Naruto pumped his fist and planted a victorious pose on top of the defeated hill of Gamagōri and crew. "Who's next?"

He looked up to see two dark figures silhouetted by the sun staring down at him. Even with the burning mass of hydrogen blotting out all the details, he could tell who it was as easily as he could recognize the excitement boiling her blood and percolating into a trembling excitement. Naruto raised his arm up to shield his face, saluting his next challenger.

"How 'bout it? Ryῡko, Senketsu? You up to a quick one?"

"Hey!" She shouted back down at him, cracking her knuckles and matching him crazed grin for grin. "Don't think you can underestimate me or Senketsu, bastard!"

"Wouldn't dream of it." He said to himself, but feeling that she understood already.

"Children," The second silhouette stepped into focus, the icy shadow she cast a cold shower on their enthusiasm. "play time's over."

"Dang."

"Uzumaki." She had no need to elevate her voice as it penetrated through air and flesh alike. "Tell those three to shake a leg."

Though he didn't want to ignore her commands, he was embarrassed to admit that it might not be possible due to his overzealousness beatdown.

But to his immense surprise, Gamagōri was already on his feet (although he might still have been unconscious), carrying the other two like sacks of rice draped over his biceps.

"Uzumaki, come!" Though it niggled him being referred to as a dog, he had even less desire to disobey her now, seeing the woman's no-nonsense expression. Even Ryῡko seemed bent over the knee at her sister's word.

"We have work to do."

* * *

 ***I don't own the Kinks. But still, rock and roll is forever.**


	8. From the Heart Down

**You know, I keep reading these AN's where the author apologizes for not updating in a while, but it's been only a month and they spit out 14,000+ words. Reading that I just feel ashamed.**

 **While I can say that I did an okay job on my other fics, this guy and Butterfly have been suffering unnecessarily and I can't figure out why. Even though my workload doesn't seem that heavy, I still find myself with hardly any time to my own, and even when I do my inspiration is at a minimum.**

 **So, I apologize for not having this out sooner, and once more that it is so short. But rest assured, there are a few more chapters already in the lineup, typed out and ready to go. And I don't intend to quit any time soon.**

* * *

Never let it be said that Ryῡko Matoi was a shy girl. Where others might balk in an uncomfortable situation, she would never shy away from such difficulty, nor rebuke the messier facts of the world when they were shoved in her face.

In this vein, she was not unfamiliar with the human anatomy, male being no different than female for her as she could now say she had seen equal examples of both (thank her homeroom teacher-cum-nudist ally in the fight against life-fibers for that little fact). Nor was she admittedly embarrassed to know the accompanying facts of life, such as they were.

But looking at that cavalier young man who had so unexpectedly interjected himself into all their lives, now, as he stared hollowly back at his own expression, it felt to her as if she was intruding on an even more private moment, one of greater vulnerability than simple nudity. His slumped shoulders spoke of greater shame and debasement, his regrets exposed for all to see.

Even being stripped bare as he was, being analyzed and probed by the ghoulish forms of Inumuta, Lori and handpicked members of the sewing and medical club, he had no reason to be ashamed of his chiseled form as it stood there rigidly like it was carved from Tuscan marble. Stone though, which had been etched by acid rain.

No, the distraction came from elsewhere, from that reddish-black mark the color of poisonous rust which was busily spreading over every inch of his body. What started as little more than a mole on his bicep now shrouded his entire upper chest and threatened his nether regions. It peeled back even as it covered, excoriating even as it healed, flaying his carefully laid defenses and unearthing his darkest secrets. It crawled and stuck to his skin like fur.

Or very well-tailored clothing.

Her sister stood in another corner than her own, looking every bit as upset as the young man but channeling it into her usually indistinguishable brusqueness. She ought to tell Naruto that Satsuki was in fact equally angry with herself for not stepping in before he did something foolish.

"How long?"

That was the question on everyone's mind, though no one had wanted to voice it. Until now.

"It's hard to say." It fell to Lori to answer the unmentionable, and the other members of the research team silently thanked his sacrifice. "The rapid growth was unexpected. I was even monitoring Uzumaki's energy output during the fight, using instruments calibrated to the Chakra wavelengths and he barely used 0.001% of his pre-sealing capacity." The germophobic blond shook his head and lowered the tape measure he had been holding up to Naruto's bicep.

"We can't necessarily take this growth rate as normal. However…"

"It's bad, isn't it." Naruto spoke for the first time since being corralled back into the quarantined nursing ward.

"It's not good, in any case."

"How…" Ryῡko watched as an earthquake shook his stony form. He was holding admirably still despite his inner turmoil trying to become external, allowing the technicians to work cautiously around him. "How could I be so… _stupid_?"

It felt like a snakebite when he hissed that word, making her recall all of the times she had felt as helpless and exposed. The venom churned in her gut, making her incapable of speaking up.

"We are all stupid pigs, make no mistake of that, Uzumaki."

It had to have been her sister who came arrived with placating words.

He regarded her unchanged expression past a fleeting wince of pain from a plasma laser which was having no effect on the Life-Fibers latched on his triceps.

"Thanks."

"Hmph." Satsuki's overemoted harrumph to cover her moment of compassion was more uplifting to Naruto than even her words were. "This ought to be a lesson that even you are not indestructible."

"I'm a slow learner." Naruto shot back, but his limp words had no sting. "You'd think I would've figured it out by now."

"Learned what? We're in uncharted territories when dealing with Life-Fiber/Chakra interaction." Inumuta commented offhandedly. "To be fair, I was the one who said that there wouldn't be an issue with your rehabilitation."

"When you're all done with your circle-jerk of blame, can we get back to the real issue here?" Ryῡko earned a sharp look from her sister for her crassness, but none the less managed to achieve a silent consensus of nods around the room.

"Right. So, it was obviously a mistake to allow Naruto-san to mold any Chakra at all." The computer geek began ticking off their status with his spare hand that wasn't crunching keys. "The residual Life-Fibers from Senketsu's extraction have grown enough to once again interfere with his Chakra Network."

"And if that's the case, there's little chance and also no point for me to summon a toad to flash me back to my home world." Naruto spoke as detachedly as he could manage, trying not to think of his impotence to deal with Kaguya.

"And in the absence of another Kamui like Senketsu to compete with, they now appear to be constructing their own cover for the host." Satsuki took a step closer, regarding him with her usual scrutiny propped up by a hand under her chin, paying even closer attention to the embryonic clothing which was microscopically knitting itself while they spoke.

"Knowing my luck, though, it probably won't be as cooperative as Senketsu, will it?" Finally free from the ministrations of the analysts, Naruto shot a glance over his shoulder to the garment in question being worn by the stewing woman.

"Unlikely, but it does beg the question of what its goal will be." Satsuki ran her hand over the cloth bonded so tightly with his skin, feeling the same electric pulse she was so familiar with.

Despite the close contact from the admittedly beautiful woman, the touch could hardly be considered intimate or even comforting, and the only one who seemed to bat an eye was Ryῡko from the seclusion of her usual space in the corner.

"Last time, it was the demon fox calling the shots, and the Life-Fibers followed its whim." Now the woman's cold gaze fell on his bare stomach where the seal was being externally stimulated and monitored by at least half a dozen machines and eyes. "With the seal tightened, do you think it has another chance to take the reins?" It was clear she was asking the seal expert.

"Honestly I don't know." Naruto twisted his lips as he thought hard in concentration. "It's not really good practice to continually mess with any seal, and especially not one as complicated as the Eight-Trigrams-Divination Seal. There's no other one that I know of to compare to, and it also isn't like there's another Kyuubi to compare to, so I can't say for certain."

"Thank goodness for small favors." But Inumuta's optimism fell short of mollifying the rest.

"I don't think it matter either way though. The Kyuubi wants to escape the seal, and once he's done that there's little doubt that he'll set the destruction of humanity as his top priority." Naruto surmised, speaking from his few encounters with his prisoner. "And from everything I gather, the Life-Fibers don't see humanity as much more than food, so it's six of one, either or."

"Do you think you could possibly control it? Like Satsuki did Junektsu?" Ryῡko perked up, voicing Senketsu's opinion.

"Heh, believe me, if I could I would. I spent the better part of two years trying to do just that. It isn't just a matter of will, either. The Kyuubi's Yokai corrupts everything it touches and poisons one's thoughts. Even if you draw on it with the best intentions, you won't be able to tell friend from foe once it's gotten a hold of you." After divulging that Naruto averted his gaze, clearly trying to forget yet another one of his still raw memories that were being dragged out on parade for all to see.

"Is there any way to reason with it?"

This time it was Ryῡko's own suggestion that found its way out of her mouth. And rather than explode with outrage or denial, Naruto merely looked at her quizzically. Surely Senketsu must have told her just how evil the fox really was and dissuaded her from the notion. The garment would know better than almost anyone by now that there was no parlaying with such a beast.

But what if he was wrong? What if Senketsu could somehow connect with the monster where he could not? A mental link shared through the Life-Fibers. It might be worth a shot, anyhow.

"What do you think about it?" He asked the garment directly. Any other time he would have laughed at the fact he was not getting chewed out for staring at a woman's bust.

"Mmm." The sailor suit hummed in contemplation, not anticipating that he would be called on to have a say in this conversation. "I certainly felt the raw emotions when the Beast was trying to take over my body. But there was definite intelligence there, and a clear goal in mind. It was not dissimilar to the feeling I got when we battled the Original Life-Fibers. However…" The golden eye narrowed as he stopped and considered how to phrase it. "…I'm not sure that it's entirely futile. Like I said, there was an autonomy of intellect, and unlike most Life-Fibers the Chakra Beast doesn't need humanity to feed itself. So there might be some room for negotiation. Although, I must admit that things were a little hazy, and my judgment could be compromised." He admitted with what appeared to be a shrug.

Ryῡko relayed the conversation to the rest of them while Naruto mulled over the carefully chosen words. There was no denying what the Kamui said was true and well-reasoned. However, could it be possible to make a mutually beneficial bargain with the Fox? So far the only one he'd been able to broker revolved around borrowing it's malign Chakra. He now knew what the price for that was, the corrosive nature physically and mentally eating away at him ever time he drew on it.

The only question was what he could offer the Fox that would make it stop manipulating the Life-Fibers in his body, and start repelling them.

Everyone agreed with this assessment but could offer no suggestions. After all, they were not the experts in Naruto's seal, and no one was about to let a walking calamity loose on the earth without certain assurances. And besides that, every other option resulted in Naruto's death. Though that outcome was to be avoided if at all possible, it did come secondary to protecting their planet.

Naruto couldn't fault them for that.

So while everyone else was busy looking for workarounds to their problem, his battle was dual-front as he also mentally prepared himself for the last resort should all other efforts fail. The one surefire way to make sure that neither they, nor the Fox, would be set loose on the world again.

One by one they bid him fair night. Inumuta and the medical staff had three other patients to attend to. Who, while suffering only from exhaustion and a good walloping, still needed tending and perhaps some goodwill.

Satsuki too had her own duties to attend to. Though her days as Student Council President were numbered and greatly reduce during the break, she still had her own future to plan and an empire to administer.

The only one who didn't have an excuse to be anywhere was Ryῡko, although she was given a pass when Naruto told her he was going to try and rest. Which wasn't a total lie, for the exercise earlier and the sobering revelation which followed was enough to lay low almost anyone.

Still, she hesitated at the transept, telling herself it was for Senketsu that she cast a look back at the forlorn shinobi who sat quietly on the edge of the hospital bed, a pale reflection of how he had been before.

But she didn't stay long, for she knew he desired no pity. She didn't want to shame him any more than what was already necessary by staring at the black blemish which was rapidly encasing his entire body.

It might have been a slightly morbid thought, but she wondered what form Naruto's Kamui would take. Did the Life-Fibers have a penchant style of their own, or was that all a human invention? And what influence would the Fox have over their warp and weft? She shook herself from this musing and skulked off down the darkened hallway with her arms wrapped around her and Senketsu.

There really was no sense in wondering. No matter the style, it would only ever be a funeral shroud.

* * *

"Was I really expecting it to be that simple?" Naruto asked to no one in particular, and so got no answer except for the gentle hum of various machines still chugging away aimlessly. " 'Living clothing stuck on you? Sure! No problem, happens all the time. Just take three of these and have shower in the morning, he'll slide right off!' Tch, yea right."

He quit looking at his dour expression, unable to stand both the scowl on his face and the mocking black blemish any longer. Flopping back onto the springy mattress, he heaved a sigh as his new vista of perforated ceiling tiles wasn't much better.

"Because, I mean really, when has it ever been that easy?" He spoke again to a dark and empty room.

Maybe he was expecting Senketsu to answer.

That got him to laugh. A dry, breathy laugh which caught in his throat.

Was he really that pathetic that he needed talking clothing to keep him grounded? No. There was nothing pathetic about Senketsu, or the woman who befriended him. The living fiber being knew exactly what he was and where he belonged, and Naruto envied him severely for that.

And he envied Ryῡko, too. Not only had she managed to succeed in her goals, but had made herself a reliable if eclectic circle of friends along the way. It wasn't strange that they seemed to gravitate to the brash young woman. He couldn't deny he had fallen for that invisible snare as well.

Of course, that was often offset by her personality which so closely matched his own. They came to butt heads so often that it was like they were two beings cut from the same cloth.

Suddenly he shot up in bed, staring straight ahead into the blank darkness.

She **was** like him. She was so like him that he ignored it, and simply focused on her outrage which had been unjustified in his eyes. But to tell the truth, if he had friends as loyal as that, he would rather die then let them go as well. He clearly remembered the first time he drew on the Kyuubi's chakra, when his first friend and instructor had been in danger for his life. Even knowing the consequences now, he wouldn't hesitate to do it all again.

He had already admitted to being jealous of her, like he'd been of Sasuke for having everything that he coveted. But she wasn't the brooding bastard and didn't take the things she had for granted. No, she clung to them tooth and nail, literally at times, and likely bled for it all as much as he had.

She had never let revenge overcome the need for friends.

Divesting himself of all these terribly heavy thoughts he collapsed once more back into bed. Sliding a black-clad arm over his face, he began to chuckle for no reason in particular.

He'd like to have said that he missed everyone back home. But the truth was, the only separation he truly regretted was Senketsu.

Because once again, he was alone.

Just like the fox.

He moved the forearm covering his eyes and stared back up once more at the monotonous ceiling. Not long ago he'd been in a cell. The room he was in now wasn't much better, but he was chained to it by necessity, rather than actual bars. The few weeks he'd spent alone in this series of unfeeling chambers had been hell. How must it have been for the Kyuubi, suffering through sixteen years with only a single loathsome face as a visitor?

Since coming to this town, to this planet, he'd discovered he'd been wrong about so many things. The revelations about Ryῡko and Senketsu only being the latest iterations. Could he have misjudged the fox as well?

There was only one way to find out. And he was tired of staring at the ceiling, anyway.

* * *

He had expected the fox to be upset with him, of course. But he wasn't sure if he would have ever been prepared for the utter deluge of enmity sweeping him from the moment he found himself in the seal. Even trussed up with golden patinaed chains so that he could hardly move, the Kyuubi nonetheless managed to exude an aura of wrath so palpable that it felt like he was choking on sludge.

And of the one muscle that the beast could use, it did, as it launched a harangue at him with words that burnt like acid.

He stared at it dumbly for the entirety of a few minutes before he regained his composure enough to do something else besides gawp like a fish.

"Oi! Can you quiet down for just a few seconds?! I need to talk to you!"

" **YOU MISERABLE, LOW-LIFE, BACK-STABBING, MOUTH-BREATHING BOTTOM-FEEDER! YOU ARE THE LOWEST OF THE LOW, THE SCUM ON THE FEET OF GODS WHO SCRAPED YOU OFF ON THIS MISERABLE ROCK AS A COSMIC JOKE TO SEE HOW LONG YOU'D LAST BEFORE YOU ERADICATED YOURSELVES IN AN AUTO-EROTIC ORGY OF MURDER AND BLOODSHED! THE ONLY REASON YOU APES CONTINUE TO PROGRESS IS BECAUSE IF YOU WENT BACKWARDS IN TIME, YOU'D FUCK YOUR OWN MOTHERS AND SIRE YOURSELVES ALL OVER AG-"**

"SHUT UP YOU DAMNED FOX AND LISTEN TO ME!"

For a second it looked like the demon was going to continue with its acerbic diatribe despite the obvious futility, but whatever flashed past its eyes in that brief moment of thought must have had a calming effect, as it cooled its rage to a mere simmer which still could have boiled the air next to it.

"There, now that's better." He'd said mostly to himself, though if the moderate increase in the volume of the growl was any indication, the Fox had heard it as well.

"Look," He said, raising his palms in a conciliatory gesture. "I'm sorry you ended up like this. I really had no idea what tightening the seal that far would do, and I'm willing to put things back to the way they were if we can both come to an understanding."

" **An understanding?** " It uttered in an oddly calm voice, diametrically opposed to the incurable rage not ten seconds before. If this wasn't enough to unnerve the blond, it began to laugh lowly, rattling the chains which bound it in the air. " **How, pray tell, should we come to an understanding, when you humans understand NOTHING?"**

Naruto huffed and placed his hands on his hips.

"We're certainly not going to get anywhere if all you do is insult me."

The beast thrashed in its binds as he went through every effort not to flinch, trusting the effectiveness of the Fourth's seal.

" **And why should I resist spelling out the truth? You know nothing, and have always known nothing like every pathetic ningen before you. You say you come down here to reach an understanding? Well take a good look around, human. Regard your surroundings well before speaking to me again about such foolishness."**

Though he hated to vindicate the demon's suggestion, he had been plagued by a feeling of unease ever since he entered his mindscape which had only part to do with the S&M position the Fox was in. He couldn't place his finger on it at first because it was so obvious, so fundamental a change to something he'd always taken for granted.

The water was gone. The floor was dry as a bone, and once he realized that little fact he began to notice the subtler details jumping out at him from their darkened nooks. Roots had invaded in every crack and cranny in the chamber, dangling down from the fathomless ceiling and spreading over every surface. They had even wormed their way onto the chains which kept the Fox restrained, and he suspected them to be the reason the adamantine constructs now only held a brassy glow instead of their usual luster.

Everything was going to ruin.

" **Now do you see?** " The Kyuubi grinned form behind the links crisscrossing across its face. " **You are in no position to make demands on me any longer. I have only to bide my time and wait for these carnivorous fibers to devour your will and consume your body, and I shall be free once again.** "

Seeing the physical manifestations growing on his body was one thing, and looking at the traffic-light schematic drawn up by Inumuta was another. But seeing this, for the first time seeing the internal damage up close and personal was a different thing entirely, and the first which honestly confronted him with the possibility that he might not survive this scrape with death.

"The Life-Fibers consume energy, no matter what the source." He said after wetting her throat and mouth with a sufficiently large gulp. "Do you honestly think they're going to leave you alone if you manage to escape?"

The Fox just laughed, a deep, rumbling thing which reverberated in his chest and sent tingles running through his feet and up into his spine.

" **I knew you were slow, but are you really that stupid? You've already seen what I can do to those parasitic life forms for yourself. They are easy enough to bend to my will, and I don't mind lending them some of my limitless power if they help me escape.** " It whipped its head to the side and clamped down on one of the chains with its jagged teeth. Naruto felt his heart grow cold as he heard a crack emanate around the hallow chamber.

But after the first crack it got nothing else and quit the effort with only a tiny amount of discomfiture.

" **No matter. My only real regret is that I won't be able to tear you apart limb for limb myself. Once the Life-Fibers are done with you, you will be nothing more than a husk and hardly worth destroying**. **Still…"** With the flight of its chagrin the malicious smirk returned. **"It should suffice to destroy every other human on this planet. I really must thank you for bringing me to this virgin land. I think I'll do so by killing those new friends of yours first. I was thinking about saving them for last and making them suffer in your stead, but unlike you humans I am a fair being, and remember my debts.** "

The fear Naruto had experienced in seeing the degradation of his body was immediately sidelined by his own burning rage which could have set every one of those Life-Fiber bundles on fire and consumed the two of them in the ensuing blaze if he let it.

"FAIR?!" He shouted, sending his own shockwaves battering against the bars and swinging the Kyuubi in his trapeze. "What the hell do you know about fairness?! These people have done nothing to you! They never even knew about the Sage, or Chakra, or any of the Tailed Beasts until I arrived! If you want to direct your anger, I'll take it all on! Every last shred of it."

He had unconsciously been moving closer and closer to the bars during his speech, shaking with unbridled anger and fear. Fear for his new comrades, and anger at his own inability to do anything to stop it.

"All you so called gods and immortal beings, you all look down on humanity. This planet's already dealt with some uppity life-forms with a god complex, and you know what? They proved that what you're spouting's a load of shit!

"Human's aren't just pigs in clothing. We're all people who are important to one another. That may be nothing to you, but for all these 'mortals' that's enough for us!

"You want to be stubborn? Fine! I'll just find a way to get rid of these freeloading pieces of string myself. And while I'm at it, maybe I'll see if they have a taste for fox. Then maybe I can have both of the problems in my life resolve themselves!"

" **You…** " That one word lingered in the breathy silence after Naruto had finished. He was spent, all the pent-up emotions that he'd placed on the backburner for so long while he learned to fight alongside Senketsu finally came out, and they'd found a ripe target with the Fox. " **You're just like all the rest. Just like those blasted Uchiha.** "

Only with those words did he realize he completely missed what he came there to do. He had meant to find a common ground with the Kyuubi, not match its frustration with his own.

"Wait-"

" **Get out.** "

"But I want to-"

" **GET OOOOOUUUUT!"**

The howl from the Fox drove him off his feet and skidding across the stonework. He grabbed on to any handhold he could find, but even the well-ensconced Life-Fiber roots were peeled up at his fingertips. He bounced harshly off the ground and back into the tunnel, the Kyuubi's enflamed eye watching him all the way.

And then everything was dark.

* * *

And when he woke up in darkness, there was a moment when he thought that he was still in the seal. Perhaps swallowed whole by the Fox in his vindicated rage, as justice for the Shinigami consuming half of his soul. His heart was oscillating between trying to beat out of his throat and completely flatlining. He clutched at his chest in a futile attempt to try and still it, but all he felt was that sickeningly smooth cloth.

"Damn it." He cursed in the relative silence and blackness.

"Damn it!" His other hand clutched at the paper-thin sheets which balled up in his fist.

"DAMNIT!"

The whole bed went flying into the wall, smashing the reinforced concrete and obscenely expensive equipment alike. He'd have to apologize to Inumuta and Lori later, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to care. He couldn't give two shits about where he was going to sleep that night, nor what the hours without data would do to the research effort. Chances are he wouldn't be getting any sleep that night, and he was beginning to lose hope of them finding a cure before it was too late.

It was all just too little, too late.


	9. Don't Lose Faith in Me

Ryῡko balled her fists and punched the solid concrete wall without sparing it a second thought. She didn't even look when she extracted her bloody hand from the glory hole she incised in Academy property. Someone would come along to fix it, of that she was sure.

What wouldn't be getting a magic repair in the near future was the object of her concern. Neither she, nor the incredibly stealthy building contractors had the knowhow to solve the current issue.

And that irked her.

She was used to punching or slashing through her problems, not thinking around them. That's what she had Senketsu and now Satsuki and her retinue for. But even those two, the ones she would turn to for any seemingly insurmountable task which couldn't be solved through brute force alone were clueless as to how to proceed. They were all just waiting idly by for the **true** brainiacs to come up with a magical solution.

And she did not idle well.

"Punching holes in the wall isn't going to do anything." The weary voice of her partner came in clear as day.

"Gee, thanks for that, I never would have known." She flexed her already healed knuckles and debated on taking another swing. "I've been waiting a long time to do that anyway."

"Why? What did that wall ever do to you?" She chuckled at the genuine cluelessness in his voice.

"Not the wall specifically. The whole damned Academy in general." She looked with both a scowl and nostalgia at the crested peak looming high over the militarized city, almost missing the angelic glow when her sister stood appraising them like ants.

"But if you never came here, you'd never have gotten any of your answers. You'd never have met Mako, or Satsuki… or me."

"I know." She deflated, planting the unclenched hand on her hip and plodding away aimlessly into the darkness. She'd decided the wall couldn't handle another one of her angered punches. "I know it's not really at fault. But it's what I got to be angry at right now."

"Like with Naruto."

She froze in the middle of the vast expanse of the school's front courtyard and the same fist dropped to her side and tightened again in directionless anger. The Kamui could feel the tension, as well as the mixed emotions coursing through the blood and skipping electricity off every cell.

"Violence. It's a familiar way to deal with problems." If he had shoulders, the garment would have shrugged. "It has worked for us so for. But I don't think it will do us much good in these circumstances. If you can, it's best to let go of your anger. All of it."

"Yeah." Came the reply after another long pause were the only sound was the moonlight radiating down on the plateau. "I know."

The fist relaxed, for good this time and fell lifelessly by her side before she ran the unused one through her already mussed-up hair, releasing a sigh which had been tangled within her.

"So what do you think I should do? You know it's impossible for me to just wait like this."

"Mm." The outfit agreed, not bothering to mention that he too was feeling restless. "Unfortunately there's apparently not much we **can** do right now. It's in the hands of the research team and Naruto himself."

"Hmph. That makes me feel **sooo** much better." She rolled her eyes. "Because that idiot clearly knows how to manage his problems in a timely manner."

' _And you do?'_ Senketsu thought to himself, resisting the urge to get into another animated argument.

He was glad he did, for he might have missed her whisper-like interrogative beneath the sound of his own voice.

"Nee, Senketsu."

"Hm?"

"Is there… is there really nothing we can do? You were with him for almost eight months, surely you learned something about the Kyuubi during that time?" He could hear the desperation in his voice, and knew she was grasping at straws because they'd already rehashed this conversation too often.

He heaved a long-suffering sigh before answering her yet again.

"During the time I was with him he never succeeded in truly putting me on. It was very much like you during the first week of our new partnership. Except…" Ryῡko perked up as the Kamui trailed off, as if he were reviewing something he'd never quite considered, a piece of the puzzle he'd never even knew was missing. "It wasn't just that he was ashamed to wear me- no, it wasn't **even** that he was ashamed to wear me, there was something else which caused the dissonance."

The young woman looked down at the glowing yellow eye glazed on her chest with interest, never having heard this part of the tale herself and honestly fascinated with the thought of a man who had so little vanity.

"Naruto-kun… he was always holding back. Not just from me, but from everyone we encountered along the way. Even the ones who claimed to be his friends.

"On the outside… on the outside he might have seemed embarrassed, but it was deeper than that. It was a shame that existed long before I came into his life.

"From the minute he awoke after I dressed him he knew I was an intelligent lifeform. I told him about us, pleaded with him to keep me close until I could find a way back home. He was the one who reassured me, and in the end, it was also him who promised to deliver me back to you."

"Sounds like you admire him a lot." Ryῡko uttered in a voice devoid of inflection, and Senketsu struggled to find a hint of jealousy.

"Ee." He confirmed at last. "He reminds me a lot of you, so it's hard not to."

"Baka." She did not try and disguise the amusement and compassion she felt. "I guess I should try to help him, huh? Sounds like he needs help feeling comfortable in his own skin."

"That's probably not far off the mark." Her partner agreed. "It certainly wouldn't hurt him to hear a sympathetic voice."

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to baby him. For such a 'tough guy' he sure knows how to be melodramatic."

Senketsu chuckled as Ryῡko turned on her heel and headed back the way she came.

"You really are two of a kind…"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing, nothing… at least it'll give you a break from Mankanshoku's croquettes. Once more I'm concerned about your waistline…"

"Oi! Don't start with that shit again! So I haven't been getting exercise for the past couple of weeks, you can't tell me that knucklehead is thinner than I am!"

"I must admit that Naruto-kun is not the healthiest eater either, but he does certainly make up for it in his day to day routine. Plus, the amount of ramen he eats does make his blood nice and salty…"

As their banter continued its comfortable back and forth all throughout the ironclad complex, Ryῡko spared a thought for her best friend who would no doubt be waiting up all night for her return.

 _Just wait a little longer, Mako. I just have a few things to take care of._

* * *

"Hmm. You really **are** two of a kind…"

Senketsu drawled as the he surveyed the damage the pair had walked in to.

"Can it, _Patches_." She snapped, flicking the garment on the opposite lapel for emphasis. "Oi, get up, Uzumaki. What the hell do you think you're doing lying down in this shit?"

Propped up against the gouged and pockmarked wall Naruto made no move to acknowledge her presence. He sat with head resting between his knees in the epicenter of what could have been a small hurricane. Machines were smashed with their wiry guts hanging out every which way, draped from the ceiling and spread out across the floor. The bed had been thoroughly dismantled and the mattress itself looked like it had been through a woodchipper.

Naruto himself was without a scratch but had an air as if he'd just been through the ringer anyway. The near-complete suit painting his body was still immaculate.

"Geeze, I get not liking hospitals, but Satsuki and Inumuta went through a lot of trouble for all this, ya know?" She padded over to him with an aloof jaunt, though internally cautious as she reviewed the wanton destruction and the young man's unresponsive demeanor. "Come on, get up. Let's find you another place to rest your fat head." She bent down to scoop an arm under his shoulder, but he continued to sit there like a sleeping cat and soon it became obvious the effort was not going to work.

"Would you quit being such a drama queen? Move your ass before I have to do it for you." Still there was no response from underneath the matted blond locks which shrouded his eyes. "You asked for it, fucker."

She grabbed ahold of the loosely defined collar of Naruto's juvenile Kamui, the fabric just barely having enough give that she wasn't tearing at his skin. With a fraction of her considerable strength, she lifted him above her head to his feet, though he continued to dangle there like a puppet.

"What the hell's the matter with you?!" She yelled at him with genuine irritation. It was beyond obvious that he was awake, and yet he was obstinately insisting on mimicking a comatose state. "You don't want to pay attention to me, fine!" With that she threw him back against the wall, sending more worrying spiderweb cracks in every direction and snapping the back of his head against the unforgiving concrete.

"Careful, Ryῡko!" Senketsu admonished as the blond peeled away from the wall and slid back down to the ground.

"Why the hell should I care if he gets hurt? He obviously doesn't." She practically spat as she crouched down in front of him, shoving her face underneath his bowed head so that their noses were almost touching. "As if something as little as that would hurt this idiot. So tell me, what is the matter with you now, Uzumaki?"

Because she was holding him up like a newborn cub, he had little choice but to meet her eyes. But she gave nothing but bullheadedness in return to the lackluster stare, refusing to let his selfish malaise affect her.

"…Could you do me a favor, Ryῡko?" If it weren't for the minute flutter in his lips she might not have heard the request.

"…What?" She asked dubiously, still not loosing her grip on his neck. "I'm not going to wipe your ass for you, if that's what you want. You hurt yourself by being stupid again and that's on you."

She didn't think that would pry any kind of cheer out of the teen. Though her vulgarity and bluntness had amused him before, he had always tried to hide it when she was looking his way. And it only became more muted in the past 24 hours when there didn't seem to be much humor to be found anywhere. It didn't hurt to try, though.

Another almost invisible movement, a nod which was little more than a twitch.

"I know." He said simply. "I've gotten myself into this mess. But I need your help."

"That's what I'm trying to do, stupid." But her already scant patience was wearing thin.

"If I ask you, would you please kill me?"

Rather than the stunned silence which everyone had been expecting, there was a harsh crunch as Ryῡko's fist buried itself into Naruto's face. It had all happened so fast, it was like she had been merely waiting for the signal. But in the end, it wasn't scripted. She just moved.

"You…" There was clear anger laced into that trembling voice, but Naruto made no move to get out of the way of its warpath as he posed loosely on his knees in front of the vengeful deity. "You bastard…" She re-clenched the fist which was bloodied for the second time that night and stalked up the few steps to him.

"Ryῡko-"

"YOU IDIOTIC BASTARD!"

Senketsu's attempts to intervene were muted by the repetitious sound of flesh impacting flesh. He even tried to physically prevent her form moving, but his partner had grown far stronger than he could have ever imagined in his absence, and he was not even a worthy distraction for her as she unleashed those prickly emotions on something much more satisfying than a wall.

She had spent all the words she was willing to waste on him back the first time in the infirmary. Now, it was her turn to be provided comfort as she purged herself of all the confused and frustrated feelings which surrounded his arrival.

*WHAM!*

She punched out his arrogance.

*SLAM!*

She knocked out his cowardice.

*BAM!*

She beat down his self-righteousness.

*SLAP!*

She boxed up his uncertainty.

*CRUNCH!*

She expelled her misgivings.

*CRACK!*

She defeated her jealousy.

*KERPOW!*

She beggared belief.

It was done only when her arm trembled trying to lift it. The other was still clamped somewhere on Naruto's collar. Where her hand ended and where he began were anyone's guess as the whole area was covered in thick, dark blood which plastered every inch of his face and caked her quivering fists. They were one disfigured mound of flesh sitting amongst a disaster zone. When she had walked in and first saw what he had done in his own fit of rage, she thought it couldn't have been ruined further. She was wrong.

The purge finished, the darkness expelled, she breathed heavy but clearly for the first time in a while. Not minding the ferric hint in the air, she gulped down the smooth concoction like it was her first drink in ages.

Meanwhile Naruto wheezed in and out of a broken nose, and several other broken things which were unidentifiable underneath the blood and bruises. He slumped forward, only being held up by her locked arm which braced the two of them across from one another, knees poised on bits of glass and rubble uncaringly. He trained a swollen eye on the horrified Senketsu who couldn't look away from the madness which had befallen his two patrons.

"Heh." He chuckled with a moan and a lisp. "Thawnks Wyῡko… I ndeeded dat." And then he proceeded to list to one side and toppled over into a vertical chunk of broken concrete, whistling snores following not long after.

"Oi…I didn't say you could pass out… I'm not done with you yet…" The woman protested as the Kamui rolled his single eye in exasperation. "Fine… but you better not go dying on me just yet. You still owe me big Uzumaki…

"But yeah… a nap sounds great just about now…"

And with that empty threat voiced to the almost equally empty room, Ryῡko followed her blond punching bag into semi-restful slumber, leaving the Kamui by himself to stay awake the rest of the night and figure out what had happened.

"Those two… they're both insane…"

* * *

"… **Are you mad, Uzumaki?** "

Though the Kyuubi himself was only barely hanging on to his dignity whilst literally hanging from the ceiling, he had to question the sanity of his jailer who showed up staggering like a drunk for the second time in as many hours after being forcibly ejected from his admittedly daunting presence.

" **Seriously, what are you doing here? You must be insane…** "

"Nope and nope!" Naruto grinned cheekily after shaking off the residual lumps and cuts which had followed him from the real world. "I got rid of that already. Had some help, though."

" **I can only imagine…** " The beast rolled his eyes and stopped them away from looking at the smiling blond. " **Are you here to laud your temporary victory over me more? Annoy me into submission? Or perhaps you are finally willing to beg for your life. I wouldn't mind some entertainment before you cease to exist.** "

Naruto just took the disinterested fleer in stride as he trod over to a particularly thick bunch of Life-Fibers before lifting them casually and tossing them aside. The Kyuubi watched out of the corner of his eye, trying not to show any interest, but little did he know Naruto was doing the same thing while he fiddled with whatever it was he was doing.

He smiled softly to himself as he drew a bloodied finger across an unassuming cobble. He stood when a large scroll seamlessly squeezed its way from the ground and stopped just short of his full height. With no formality, he unfurled the familiar parchment and went about his ministrations under the furtively curious eyes of the Kyuubi.

Though the fox would later wish he had paid more attention to his predicament, as without warning the chains suddenly retracted and he found himself dropped unceremoniously on his rear with a yelp that was decidedly unbecoming of such a powerful and awe-inspiring essence.

He uncoiled himself onto all fours and growled dangerously at the now considerably subdued Naruto. But the boy had yet to completely wipe the smile off his face, and did not look like he was about to shy away from the overbearing challenge he set up for himself.

" **Very good.** " The Kyuubi said patronizingly. " **It seems you have finally accepted your fate.** "

"In a manner of speaking." Naruto shrugged before plopping himself down in front of the beast, within arm's reach of the giant bars. "I'm here because we still need to talk."

" **When I said that I wanted entertainment before you perished, I did not mean your tasteless banter.** " It continued to insult the mettlesome youth, though restrained from carrying out its threat because of a genuine curiosity it held for his unprecedented actions and bearing.

"Well, it's not like I intend for either one of us to die just yet. But that's really up to you."

" **Of course it's up to me, boy. You are nothing but an insect in my eyes, and the fate of one such as yourself is no different as a careless step on my part could end it.** " A massive paw was raised for emphasis, stretching past the bars which did nothing to stop him and bathing the cross-legged Naruto in its shadow. " **This is your last chance to give me any sort of reason I should prolong your meaningless existence for another minute.** "

"Nee, what do you think happens if you die here?"

The Fox's paw halted inches above his head, so close he could feel the smoldering heat perk up his gilded locks.

"I mean, it's possible that you could reform. But there isn't even any nature Chakra on this planet, and without an abundant source to ground you it might take a while… maybe forever."

" **Fool.** " It growled but kept its paw steady, tails swishing restively behind it. " **I already told you. The new Kamui is close enough to completion. I shall escape this crumbling prison through it, and with my network of Life-Fibers shall construct myself a new body which would be the envy of any of my brethren.** "

It spoke with no small amount of pride and desire. Truly, the thought of such a symbiosis was frightening, perhaps more so than the vague threat presented by Kaguya. A demon which was hell-bent on eradicating humanity, a near limitless wellspring of energy to fuel the most efficient and ruthless infiltrators known to life. No one in the galaxy would be safe from that partnership.

"Yeah… not going to let that happen." Naruto drawled without the concern which should have been there.

" **And I repeat,** " It pressed down on the top of his head ever so slightly. " **Fool. There is nothing you can do to stop me.** "

"Mm." Naruto nodded his head, bumping against the incredibly soft pads of the Kyuubi's paw, much to its ire. "You're right. There's nothing much I can do. But you know Ryῡko-san is up there, and I'll tell you what, I think it's been a bit of a struggle to get her **not** to kill me."

" **A human after my own heart…** " It bore its fangs once again. " **Maybe I'll take hers instead?** "

Naruto failed to rise to the bait and just stared patiently at the fox, as if reminding it of its own curiosity.

"What do you think would happen if she tore me to pieces with those Scissor Blades, hm?" The smug look slunk off the Kyuubi's face. "You remember those things, right? The blades that can cut through the most hardened Life-Fibers and render them useless?"

" **It didn't work so well for you last time.** " It poked its nose outside the bars, huffing in Naruto's face with olid breath. " **Why should I heed such an idle threat now?** "

"No reason." Naruto broadened his smile, making the Fox actually shrink back behind the bars again. "But what do you think? Do you really want to take the chance that your new Kamui is as good as Senketsu? Are you fast enough to escape your bonds before Ryῡko can turn us both into stir-fry?" His grin grew manic, and for the second time in a single conversation the Kyuubi questioned his host's sanity. "You wanna make a bet on it?"

It was all a bluff. It was all just insane desperation. That was the only trick the humans ever had when backed against a wall, they rejected the cruel fairness of the world and rallied against it until the bitter end. But the end would always come, and the humans would always lose.

Except when they managed to break even. When that insanity, that belief in impossibility actually bore fruit and they cheated the zero-sum game. The Kyuubi knew the gamble Naruto's father had made. He also knew the boy's own track record when it came to dumb luck.

No, he did not want to take that chance.

" **You have no idea just how satisfying it would be to crush you here and now.** "

"You're right." Naruto cocked his smile to the side of his mouth. "I don't. So tell me, would it be worth it?"

In truth, he was simply glad he had no bowels in his mindscape, or else he might be voiding them just about now. In that pause in which the Kyuubi pondered his fate, he surely would have flatlined several times over.

" **No.** " It said at last, and he allowed himself a sigh of relief. " **Just barely.** "

"Good enough for me!" Naruto tittered. "Now, what do you say we start over, eh big guy? I'm thinking this conversation was long overdue."

He reached up to the massive prehensile paw which was still poised to flatten him like a pancake, shifting it off of himself like an iron girder on a crane until it was just at arm's reach away from him.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" He beamed, shaking his hand against one razor claw of the gargantuan appendage. "Not going to say it's nice to meet you just yet, but I look forward to making your acquaintance!"

The Fox allowed himself to be manhandled by this audacious speck of dust as he gazed down with half-lidded eyes. For the first time in its vast existence, it did not know what to do. So, it gave in to the insanity.

" **Kurama.** "

"…?"

" **My name… is Kurama.** "

It could always squash him later.

* * *

 **So, for all of you I know that are wondering, we just passed the lowest point. Congratulations. It's all uphill from here. Getting better, but a struggle all the way.**


	10. How Much Did You Get For Your Soul?

**You have no idea how long I have been waiting for this chapter. I hope you guys have as much fun with it as I did.  
**

* * *

"Please, Satsuki-sama, try to restrain yourself…"

The words, for what little affect they might have had on a normal day, didn't have enough sincerity in them to be persuasive. In truth, Inumuta was probably just as frustrated as his leader. The only way he managed to restrain his ire was through years of practice as a junior hacker, when violent reactions would have cost him equipment which was irreplaceable on a student budget.

Not that the ruined machines here were any cheaper. He had borrowed most of them from the Medical Club, and those had been gifts from REVOCS back when it was still a multi-billion-dollar empire. Seeing them so thoroughly dismantled brought a tear to his eye and a tremor in his clenched fist.

"You really shouldn't kill her… she **is** your sister."

She shot him a deadpan which hit him upside the head, reminding him of the circumstances in which she met said sibling.

"Well, Naruto-san is still technically a patient as well…" Like that would stop her.

"So, what you mean is that it's the perfect time to get some revenge." Sanageyama postulated, brandishing his repaired (with duct-tape) shinai and smirking evilly against the crinkling bandages on his face. "Seems fair enough to me."

The only member of the gang who looked ready to contradict the green-haired man being the Disciplinary Committee chair. Although, that was only speculation as the majority of his face was still covered in bandages as well.

"Personally, it looks like Ryῡko has done a number on him already." Lori offered his opinion offhandedly.

"Enough!"

Though it was more like she was talking to herself, Satsuki's single-word command made the entire room stiffen except for the room's two, still unconscious occupants.

"Wake them."

No one needed to be told twice, but there was a scramble as the room full of monkeys tried to figure out how to go about the task.

"Mm… oi, what's the big idea? 'M sleeping here…" Ryῡko was the first to respond as a few jabs at a safe distance from the kendo sword's blunt tip prodded her awake.

She blinked in the harsh, buzzing fluorescent lights which were hanging on by a shoestring. Quickly removing her head from where it rested on Naruto's shoulder, she stood up in a languid stretch.

"Umm…" She stalled, glancing at the newcomers and the disastrous setting she found herself in. "This isn't my fault, really."

"And I suppose you had nothing to do with the hole in the cafeteria wall, either?"

"Oh, well, that…"

"Regardless." The Student Council President's no-nonsense voice interrupted the sidelining of their conversation once again and got them back on track. "Wake the other one."

This was easier said than done. It started with the same technique used to rouse the girl and devolved from there. Escalating from cautious pokes and prods rapidly into slaps and blows strong enough to send most people back into unconsciousness. Then came more extreme measures, the band leader playing a rousing symphony, blowing brass instruments directly into his ears. Electric shocks from a vindictive computer expert had no visible effect other than to cause piezoelectric sparks to jump across the nearly-formed Kamui. Even Gamagōri's severe voice elicited no response.

"Huh. For a ninja, he sure is a deep sleeper."

None could do anything but nod dumbly as the blond continued to lay amongst the rubble and snore loudly.

"Well, I suppose we should clean things up in the mean ti- GAH!"

While sluggishly moving to begin the onerous task, they were rudely interrupted as the person in question shot to his feet without further provocation.

"Hey guys. What's up?" He asked, clearly forgetful of the damage he had caused the innocent room. "And why does my head feel like I have an icepick stuck in it?" And also unaware of their efforts to wake him.

But as the fuming women both made to reprimand him for the commotion he caused, they were preempted again as the tattoo-like cloth stitched to his skin began to glow with crimson radiance. Immediately they all shuttered down any complaints and adopted battle stances in anticipation for another cataclysmic battle which they now knew they had no chance of winning.

While Naruto's eyes were wide with intense curiosity as the living garment began to shift and morph along his body, he did not look overly afraid or confuse of what was going on. Almost like he was expecting something like this to happen.

The glowing blackness spread over his entire body like an impenetrable shadow, masking every inch of flesh and swallowing up his cautious and anticipating expression. They all waited on baited breath and pushed themselves to the edges of the small chamber for all the good it would do. But if this was the outcome the feared, there wasn't anything they could do besides.

And then the black cocoon began to crack, spilling crimson light into the cramped room which drowned out the pale electric lamps. It crackled and moaned as the fissures ran all up and down its breadth and length, and the pieces fell apart in one fell swoop.

In place of that inky, human-shaped construct stood Naruto, no worse for the wear. And proudly adorning him was something none of them knew how to qualify.

For one, it showed a bit more skin than most male clothing normally did, or ought to. The teen's seal displayed prominently on his stomach only hedged in by a bit of fabric on any one side. Though the baggy black and orange hakama left everything to the imagination, they had a concession to the trend with deep V's on either side which would normally be covered up by the tunic which was missing. Like air, the higher the sight went the thinner the amount of material. Completing the Kamishimo ensemble was the matching vest which did little to cover his stalwart physique and more to enhance it with near-garishly pointed shoulder pads tapering down into fang-like strips which tucked into the trousers.

But the burlesque show was common hat to the crew of Honnouji Academy, and they were far more concerned with the two crimson eyes emblazoned on the shoulders where the crest ought to go, and which followed their every twitch with nerve-wracking precision. It also did not go unnoticed that the knotted belt had multiple extra strands which trailed behind him like tails.

"A Kamui."

No one dared speak a word after that declaration, the startling knowledge enough to send them all into an alert muteness, waiting to see what would happen next. All of the guests were watching Naruto's unwavering expression as much as they were watching the newborn lifeform's intense scrutiny, but he had yet to depart from his usual doughty demeanor.

"Well… this was unexpected."

"I'll say." Naruto laughed, dispelling most, if not all of the tension.

"Naruto?"

"The one and only."

"And, the Kamui…. Is that-?"

"The Kyuubi."

Though they had mostly been expecting as much, it was still a shock to hear it pronounced so casually. And it was not unreasonable that they all felt somewhat betrayed by the easy acceptance, though they avoided these detrimental emotions and were quick to readopt battle stances. A calm and resolute hand stayed their preemptive strike, but did not assuage their fears.

"Don't worry."

"How in the hell can you tell us not to worry, Uzumaki?!" Satsuki leveled the longer of her two blades at his throat, and he made no move to stop her. "You're telling us the Kyuubi either escaped," She narrowed her eyes and prodded the point further into his neck, enough that there should have been blood but wasn't. "…or you **let** him loose."

Ryῡko found herself the most invested in an answer, and thus the most apprehensive as Naruto remained collected and silent, staring at her sister with the barest smile of confidence on his face.

"We've come to an understanding."

Again, the simple answer was something they were all expecting and wanting to hear. But they also had to hold in that relief if they didn't want to let it get the better of them and make them sitting ducks to the beast's treachery.

"And what proof do you have of this?"

Naruto's confidence was by blindsided and he widened his eyes in panic, scratching his cheek in chagrin when he realized he might not have through everything through.

"Umm…."

"Never mind." Ryῡko sighed, lowering a scissor blade to her side. "That's the idiot alright."

But despite the nodding heads in the background, Satsuki had yet to look convinced.

"Senketsu." She spoke without taking weapon or eyes off the blond Kamui-wearer. "Is there some way you can confirm this? You were with Uzumaki for a long time, is there something you can tell us about the truth of his claim?"

The others looked hesitant at this non-negotiable suggestion, for if there was any way of doing so, it would require Ryῡko to get up close and personal with the potential threat.

"Perhaps." The synthetic Kamui said stoically, and his partner nodded her head to relay the message. "Ryῡko." Just saying her name was enough, he didn't need to tell her what to do.

"Right."

Naruto finally turned to the two with an apologetic smile as they approached.

"Don't worry, Ryῡko. Senketsu." He eyed the garment which flicked its attention from the crimson eyes to the blue. "He won't bite."

" **Not for lack of trying, human.** "

The partners froze within arm's reach of the blond, hearing a familiar and demonic voice echoing throughout the small room.

"Was that-?"

" **Behold and bask in the glory of divinity! It is I, the illustrious Kyuubi no Kitsune! Living calamity, the greatest of all the Tailed Beasts! Who else could possibly possess such an awe-inspiring presence?!"**

"Oi, enough with the dramatics." Naruto pinched the cloth, causing one of the crimson eyes to twitch.

" **Whelp! I have been stuck in that cage for the better part of the last sixteen years! This is hardly the comeback I anticipated, and I reserve the right to pontificate a little."** The garment huffed and the emblazoned eyes swept the room haughtily. " **It's bad enough that I don't think they can hear me, I will not be restricted to talking only to you for the duration of this humiliating bargain.** "

"Umm… excuse me," Attention flicked over to the littlest member of the Elite Four who was busily trying to make herself look smaller even while speaking. ", Uh, Kyuubi-sama, sir. But… we can hear you…"

" **You can?** "

"That's unexpected."

"By now, shouldn't at least one of use be expecting the unexpected with him?"

" **Muwahaha! This is excellent!** "

"That's not fair…"

As Senketsu lamented the injustice which caused him to be unintelligible while the newest incarnation of the Life-Fibers seemingly got everything he could ever want, the others paled at the dire implications. Not the least of which involved having to listen to an officious demon outfit for the foreseeable future.

"This does not lend confidence to the integrity of your seal, Uzumaki." Satsuki spoke, addressing once again the prime concern facing them.

"The seal is still holding. You can check it yourself."

"You know that would do little good. We have only your word to go by, if we are to trust that." Her tone suggested that she did not.

" **Calm yourself Harinezumi*."** Realizing he could address the plebeians in person, the Kyuubi asserted himself in front of the razor-sharp blade. " **My jailor may be an idiot, but even he is not stupid enough to give me full reign in this form.** "

"That still doesn't make me feel any better." The woman ground out, feeling vaguely like she had been insulted. (Which couldn't have been further from the truth because the Fox considered all lifeforms superior to humanity).

" **I know you have had your people analyzing the gaki's seal for weeks now. You've seen what happens when I try to take over his body. If I were in control right now, do you really think he would be able to resist killing you all just for the whiff of blood?** "

This thought also didn't provide any comfort for the room at large. But Satsuki eventually relented, acknowledge that the Fox had a point.

"That still doesn't tell me the nature of this bargain Uzumaki has brokered without our consent." Though he was tempted to argue that it was his body and his tenant, one sideways glance from the woman was enough to snap his mouth shut with a light click. "Furthermore, I'd like to know how you even got to this place of impasse. Last I was aware of, you, Kyuubi, wanted to take over Kamui Senketsu and exterminate all life on this planet."

" **Well… I might have been a little overzealous at the opportunity of freedom.** " Proving that even immortal demons were capable of exaggerating and even making mistakes. The triangular shoulders with black insides (making them look suspiciously like ears) shrugged in apathy.

Satsuki just pinched the bridge of her nose, wondering if there was a mark forming there with how often she did that gesture these days.

"Just…explain. Uzumaki. Go."

"Er-right."

* * *

 _Naruto had no idea what to say at the unexpected introduction. He supposed it wasn't all that shocking considering the Kyuubi was sentient, it made sense he named himself or was given a name by the Sage who created him. The Fox just always just struck him as the type of person to revel in their arrogance and refer to themselves in third person just to hear the sound of their title (although, he had to admit the chakra beast wasn't that bad, most of the time, at least)._

" _Hajimemashite, Kurma." (though he edited the demon's name in his storytelling)._

" _ **Enough with the pleasantries. You wanted to talk. I don't have all day.**_ _"_

" _Seriously…?" Naruto whispered to himself, conscious that he didn't want to call the Fox out so soon after coming to speaking terms. 'He's go nothing but time!'. Pushing on, he knew that he himself was in fact limited in this resource._

" _I guess… I should start by apologizing."_

" _ **If you're going through the whole list, we'll be here all day.**_ _" Kurama growled._

" _I ain't apologizing for the things I said." Naruto clarified with eye twitching as an outlet for the mouth which could not. "I want to say I regret taking your chakra."_

" _ **Hmph. Of course you do."**_ _the Fox huffed, one step from being incensed. "_ _ **Once you learned how incompetent you are at controlling it. What being doesn't lament its actions while drunk?**_ _"_

" _No, what I mean is-"_

" _ **Just be glad that you never tried to steal more from me. Or that my only emotion transferred to you was anger. I'd hate think of what you'd have done to that pink-haired girl if my lust had slipped in-"**_

" _Would you just let me apologize?!" Embarrassed and starting to get outraged with where the conversation was going, Naruto was losing resolve in the form of patience. "I am sorry that I demanded your chakra_ _ **not**_ _because of all the shit I did while under its influence or the fact that it burns worse than Lee's curry every time I do. I ask you to forgive me for taking it as payment, when you really had no choice to take up residence in my gut."_

 _The Fox didn't seem like he was going to mouth off any time soon, and yet Naruto suddenly felt uncomfortable being the center of attention in the following silence._

" _Heh, or if you did, I'd seriously suggest getting a better real-estate agent."_

 _Kurama did not seem particularly amused at this attempt to diffuse the tension. But that was mainly because that apprehension was one-sided. The demon fox was more interested in figuring out this latest puzzle presented to him by the human Uzumaki._

" _ **The man who put me in this cage is long gone.**_ _"_

 _Naruto started at the sudden and calm words which echoed around the room, taking his attention away from the sound of Life-Fibers growing at a glacial pace._

" _ **My previous cage, your mother, is gone. As is the one who transferred me into her from the cage before that, and likewise that one has been gone for so long as to be forgotten by most of you apes."**_ _Naruto listened with more attention than he thought possible as the Kyuubi went on with the successions of containers, never having given it a thought before. This night was truly one for a lot of firsts._

" _ **The one who broke my seal, just so he could control me is also gone."**_ _Kurama growled, and Naruto couldn't tell if he was glad of this, or upset because he would never get revenge. "_ _ **And the one who created me, also human, is gone. I no longer have a list of the good and the bad humans with which to compare. In truth, I should be ambivalent to your existence.**_ _" He pontificated, sounding more like a god and less like an angry demon._

" _ **Hagoromo, the Sage of the Six Paths, as you know him, was the only human I ever respected. Was it wrong that I should compare the rest of your pathetic species to his pinnacle of achievement? You didn't even have to do anything that hard, he gave you all the tools to improve your societies. So what did you do with that gift? You use it to fight amongst one another, kill each other. And yet you complain about me exterminating a few of your kind? I do so for my survival, as is my right. Humans kill for power, prestige, any number of base reasons, sabotaging your own existence in the process.**_ _"_

 _Naruto was somber as he listened to the Fox's monologue. He had come to much the same conclusion after listening to Jiraya's confess his desires. He didn't want people to fight anymore. He didn't want to pervert the Sage's teachings any more than they already had been, using chakra in anger to kill and destroy. In this respect, maybe he was sorry for his own reasons. For the Kyuubi's malevolent Chakra was just that: in the hands of humans, a force only for evil._

" _ **When I first met you, Uzumaki, I thought you were like everyone else and you vindicated my response with your behavior.**_ _" Naruto looked abashed but was adamant about living up to his mistake._

" _ **But… I suppose if you wish to try again… it is my duty as the superior being to give you that chance.**_ _"_

" _Thank you, Kurama." Naruto bowed his head, nearly touching the floor to the Kyuubi's obvious surprise. He came up with a cheek-splitting grin. "I promise, I'll prove to you we humans are capable of change for the better."_

" _ **For your sake, you better hope so.**_ _" Though there might have been a slight twitch in the beast's black gums. "_ _ **Now that we are on the same page, what is it that you come to discuss with me?**_ _"_

 _Naruto briefly paled, realizing he hadn't though much on what the deal was going to consist of, and had hung up on the first part of simply getting the Fox to speak with him. But he was known as the number one most unpredictable ninja, and was always most ingenious at coming up with things on the fly._

" _Well… what do you want to talk about?" This was outside of battle, and thus outside of those skills._

" _ **How about letting me out of my cage?**_ _" Kurama asked him, unamused but patient to his word._

" _Sorry, but you and I both know that's not going to happen." Before the beast could get upset with him, however, Naruto continued. "Even if I took you at your word that you'd give humanity on all planets a second chance, I would die in the process. Barring the fact that I'd kind of like to live too, there are still things I have to do to get humanity up to your standards."_

" _ **True enough."**_ _Kurama barked a laugh and settled down in his cage, at the very least preparing himself for a leisurely talk. "_ _ **Then what is it you propose? What else do you have to offer me?"**_

 _Naruto screwed his face up in deep concentration. In truth, he had actually given it_ _ **some**_ _thought in the scant few hours from his last visit. But he was still wary of giving the Fox that much leniency and freedom to do what he wanted. Still, it wasn't like he had a better option, and though immortal, the Fox's patience would not last forever._

" _What if I gave you a new body?"_

" _ **Not yours I hope. I still find you apes disgusting.**_ _" Kurama qualified after a pause where he digested the offer._

" _Erm, not my body, no. Well, actually… kind of."_

 _Intrigued, but not wishing to show it, the fox leaned in ever so slightly._

" _I mean, why reinvent the wheel?" Naruto gestured to the tangle of Life-Fibers still spread out all around the room, lazing about like engorged leaches. "You were going to create a body from them, right? So, let's make that happen."_

" _ **Oh?**_ _" The massive eyebrow arched in curiosity or amusement, Naruto couldn't tell. "_ _ **And what's the catch? Surely you haven't forgotten the last time I took control of these threads. I am not so foolish as to think you'd give me free reign without a way to stop me.**_ _"_

" _Well, I do still have the key to the seal." Naruto offered offhandedly as Kurama twitched in burgeoning upset. "-But I'd like to not have to use that, either as a last resort or a threat." He reached up to scratch the back of his head, knowing of what people back home would say if they knew what he would propose. "To be honest, I'd like to take you at your word. I'd give you as much freedom as I can, but keep enough in the seal to keep it from breaking."_

" _ **Hm. You realize that your word as a human still means nothing to me, and being a demon you should be skeptical of my designs.**_ _"_

" _Probably should, yeah." Naruto conceded with lopsided smile. "But this is mostly new territory for me. I don't really know how to make the seal do that, beyond what I can do with the key. And I know that if you take over the Life-Fibers, you'd be doing me a favor and I'd like to repay that with what I can."_

 _He wasn't able to interpret what went on behind the Kyuubi's clinical stare bearing down on him. The Fox gave up nothing as it regarded his genuflecting offer, looking for any deceit with those perfectly clear red gems. It wouldn't be able to find any, and maybe that's what was taking it so long._

" _ **Mm. You are truly ignorant to the way things work. You expose your lack of knowledge to your enemy. And you wish to trade with the only thing you don't want to give up, trusting me to not abuse that power I laud over you."**_ _The more Kurama enumerated the flaws in his logic, the more he wondered if it was truly a good decision. But in sooth, what choice did he have? In some ways, it was actually comforting to have such council given to him, even if it was not by something that could be considered an ally just yet._

" _ **Although,"**_ _He heaved a grand sigh causing a small dust devil to kick up on the prison floor._ _ **"I suppose that to expect something to change, we must try something new. The Key should be enough. Just give it a 1/9**_ _ **th**_ _ **turn clockwise when I tell you too. I'll take care of the rest.**_ _"_

" _Wait!" Naruto shouted and shot to his feet, suddenly nervous about how fast things were progressing. "Uh-I mean shouldn't we hammer out the deal and shake on it?"_

" _ **Very well."**_ _Kurama acquiesced without too much twisting of the arm._ _ **"What are the terms?"**_

" _No harming me or my friends. You will do whatever it takes to keep us all alive and safe. And that includes you in the 'we'." Naruto held up a single finger, waiting for a yea or nay._

" _ **Acceptable."**_ _He nodded, quickly consenting to that condition._ _ **"Like I have said, all beings desire to stay alive. Having already agreed to provisions which guarantee your survival, it only makes sense that you'd want to have comrades and capable mates in the future."**_

" _Wow, really? Okay, uh- I mean wait! What?! That's not-" He shook his head, preventing him from taking that spur from the conversation. "Never mind. Let's just move on."_

" _ **I want your word that you will not try to restrain me in any way, unless my actions come into conflict with the first condition resulting in harm to those persons falling into the aforementioned categories.**_ _" Kurama spewed forth, showing that he had done more than merely sleep all the time in his cage. "_ _ **If we come into disagreement on something, no action will be taken until we parlay and reach a consensus."**_

" _Uhh…"_

" _ **We talk and reach a decision."**_

" _Oh, okay." The Fox stared at him expectantly. "I mean, yeah, sounds fine. I give you my word." He put up another finger on the tally. "Alright, and if you go behind my back to try and escape- or conspire with anyone who has bad intentions for anyone I care about, the deal is off."_

 _Kurama smirked, amused that his otherwise dullard container seemed to be thinking things through as they went._

" _ **Accepted. I will not allow you to reseal me into another container without my permission. This includes both living and non-living vessels, as well as deities and magical beings."**_

" _Umm.. okay." Naruto offered dumbly, once again taken aback by the comprehensiveness of the Fox. "Number five: you're not going to try to and permanently attach yourself. If it turns out we can't be separated, well, I guess we'll both try our best to give each other our privacy."_

" _ **Believe me, human, I have no reason to be closer to you than necessary.**_ _" Kurama rolled his eyes. "_ _ **And I have no desire to witness any of your.. bodily functions.**_ _" Naruto thought he saw the Fox shiver at that. Not that he could really blame him._ _ **"I accept."**_

 _Naruto held up the score, one hand filled up and waited in anticipation on the Kyuubi._

" _ **What?"**_ _He asked when noticing the blond staring at him._

" _It's your turn. That's three and two. I think I'm done, so you get one more."_

 _Having covered the most officious things he could think of, Kurama honestly didn't have much else to bitch about. But he was admiring how the puny human adhered to fairness, and in that vein wanted to give him something for his efforts._

" _ **Organic fabric softener.**_ _"_

" _Ooookay." He smirked at the blond's perplexed visage._

" _ **You can never be too careful.**_ _"_

" _Well… that's that?" He dropped the full hand which only held a thumb and extended the other one to the fox in its cage. "Shake on it, then?"_

 _The Kyuubi smiled, and in Naruto's eyes it looked menacing. For a second he considered that what he was doing might be incredibly stupid, but then the Fox extended its paw, and it was too late._

" _ **Don't go back on your word, Naruto."**_

" _Meh, you should know me better. Uzumaki Naruto_ _ **never**_ _goes back on his word." Brave or stupid, it was who he was._

" _ **I know. That's the one thing I like about you, ningen."**_

* * *

"…and, here we are?"

Naruto declared with a less than enthusiastic presentation, slowly scanning the room full of incredulous and vexed looks.

Satsuki was either totally serene, or had else become so riled up that she had broken and was merely in the calm before the storm. Either way, her eyes were closed and her expression unreadable as she listened to the strange tale. When she snapped up she made both the Kyuubi and Naruto (along with everyone else in the room) leap back in fear (not that the demon would ever admit to this emotion).

Her chest was puffed out and there was a crushing pressure radiating above her head from where she glowered down at them. Her hand was raised in admonishment and she looked like she was about to say something and/or strike them down with lightning.

But then to everyone's total surprise, she backed down and immediately turned on her heel, clicking purposefully out of the room. Stopping at the transept, she looked back just enough to see the room staring back at her out of the corner of her eye.

"Clean up this mess."

As she walked out everyone in the room was scrambling to comply.

* * *

"So, I guess this is it, huh?"

"Mm? What do you mean?"

She could have meant the end of another day. Because after another plethora of tests and samples where they learned nothing more than the obvious, the sun was setting over the endless bay and bathing everything in a beautiful orange hue. Shops were winding down their services, and the night life had yet to gear up for another round.

She could have meant this was her stop, as the tram they were riding noisily clacked to a crawl and prepared to stop at a nondescript platform.

She could have meant that this was it, her world in total on that small island, and she didn't know if anything existed for her outside of it.

But as Ryῡko glared at him with half-hearted annoyance for having to spell it out, he realized with a relative certainty that it wasn't any of these things.

"I mean that this ties everything up in a nice little bow, at least as far as we're concerned, right?" By we, he knew she meant not just her and Senketsu, but essentially everyone he met thus far on that new world. She was washing her hands of him and his problems.

"You'll probably want to get back home as soon as you can and take care of the bitch-goddess."

"Yeah."

He did want to, and admittedly needed too. But that didn't stop a certain amount of melancholy from entering his voice.

"I still need to form some kind of plan. I can't very well go charging in blindly to face a god."

"Bah, where's the fun in that?"

He wanted to laugh, if only to show his gratefulness for those words he knew she didn't say for his benefit. But the feeling was just so nostalgic that he found he couldn't find the humor in it. When he didn't stir after a few seconds, she took it upon herself to fill the silence.

"So I guess that means you'll stick around for a few more days then, huh?" He tried listening to her inflection and couldn't tell if she was annoyed at that, or sad.

"S'ppose so."

In all honesty he didn't want to think about any of that right then. He had spent his entire teenage life jumping form one disaster to another, and just when things were starting to go his way he wanted to pause and enjoy this brief victory. He wasn't sure if he'd ever get another chance. He wasn't sure if he'd ever see this foreign sky again, ever see the unflappably happy face of Mako, or the oddly caring sternness of Satsuki, the determination of Sanageyama, the sagacity of Inumuta, the charming arrogance of Jakuzure, or the integrity of Gamagōri.

True, he'd left many other faces behind on his home world. People both whom had touched his life for a fleeting moment, and people who were by his side every day were waiting for him to come back and save them. But somehow, either the distance or the fact that he'd met others made the matter so much less urgent to him.

No, not less urgent, just obsolete. Replaceable.

That was a scary thought, but one he'd have to own up to. That attitude wasn't who he was and as long as he entertained it, he was doomed to fail.

He could do that. He could remember all his friends back in Konoha and abroad and remember the determination he derived from them. It wasn't so much that he was afraid of facing them again. He was simply reluctant to leave behind people who had come to mean so much to him in so short a time.

"Oi, quit it with the long face." He was stirred by a friendly check on his shoulder, very different than the skull-crushing blows he was used to from her, but at the same time carrying the same intent. "You know, when you first showed up I thought we were gonna get another joker around to lighten up the place."

"Sorry about that." He gave her another small smile to her exasperated rolling eyes. She stuck her tongue out and leered at him with an inverted eyelid.

He just looked at the raven-haired woman with bemusement. Was this really the same person who had threatened to maim him, kill him, and who had actually beaten him into a pulp? Then again, he seemed to have pretty strange relationships with women.

If only this one could work out, though.

"Hey, Naruto?"

"Hm? What's up?"

She had skipped ahead of him a little while he was lost in thought and dragging his feet on the dirty street. Now she looked at him over her shoulder almost coquettishly, hands clasped behind her back and head cocked back at a slight angle. He admitted she looked pretty in that tawny light when she wasn't trying to castrate him. Hardly angelic, satirically innocent, and yet beautiful all the same.

"If you're staying in town for a bit, why'd you leave the Academy?"

He blinked and the painted image was gone.

"I was just following you…" Though for the life of him he didn't know why or how.

Ryῡko just slapped both palms onto her face and shook her head, he couldn't tell if she was laughing, but guessed not.

"You moron! Oh well, I guess we should get you a hotel seeing how the grounds are probably closed up for the night-"

"RYŪKO-CHAN!"

Naruto was about to point out that he was a ninja, and now that he had most of his chakra use back sneaking back in would be a synch. But before he could voice this opinion the two were assaulted by a chibi-projectile flying at them from left field.

Though Ryῡko was used to Mako's airborne assaults and had by then moved out of the way, Naruto was not, and as such did not have the presence of mind to get out the way himself when the human flying squirrel missed her intended target and glommed on to him instead.

She was lucky her grip was so strong, because when she knocked him over she would have gone tumbling down the incredibly steep hill otherwise.

"Oh! Hello Naruto-kun! What are you doing here?"

"Hello Mako-chan…" The cheery grin was slurred by the stars spinning above his head. "…and frankly, I'd like to know the same thing."

"Idiot-boy here was following me like a lost puppy so now we have to find him a dog house willing to put him up." Ryῡko's borderline abusive teasing rained down on him and he remembered why he'd been so at odds with her at first.

"A lost puppy? Ooh! Can we bring him home?! Can we?! Can we?! Can we, huh?! I'm sure he'd get along fine with Guts and Mom's always saying how she is looking for another man around the house who will actually do work and not sit on his bottom all day picking pockets or killing customers!"

"H-hey, now wait a minute, don't you think you should ask your pa-"

"MOM! LOOK WHAT I FOUND LAYING OUT HERE ON THE SIDEWALK!"

Even as she began to come up with some sort of persuasive argument to the contrary, Ryῡko found herself alone outside as Mako had up and disappeared with her newest toy in her clutches. The sounds of farcical commotion were already spilling out of the wide-open door and echoing in the confines of the darkened ally.

"Oh my! What a cute little fox! I do hope he's house trained, though."

"Nii-san, does he have a name? Hey! He looks kind of like a samurai in that getup. I think I'll call him Kenshin!"

" **Insolent humans! I already have a name, I am the Great Kyuubi-no- hey! Quit drooling on me you mangy mutt!** "

"Mako dear, I think he might have rabies…"

"Rabies? Don't worry! I have a cure which works 50% of the time!"

"Gaah! Stay away from me you weirdos! Help me, Ryῡko!"

Part of her didn't want to. To use this as entertainment for now, and blackmail for a later date should she need it. But at the same time, part of her wanted to extract Naruto from the oddly familial scene, if only because she was once again feeling slightly jealous of how quickly he usurped her role in that crazy family. But she recognized this feeling and shook it from her as best she could. She was a big girl. She could learn to share.

"Are you going to go inside, Ryῡko?" The carefully concerned voice of Senketsu filled her ears, head and heart.

"Mm. In a little bit. I think I'll let him have this for a little bit."

With that she adjusted the guitar case on her back, turned on her heel and strutted off into the warm night.

* * *

 **OMAKE: Later that night…**

" **Devilish harpy! Unhand me at once! Don't pretend like you cannot hear my commands, I know behind that false-smile you are quivering in fear of my awesome- AAAAH! What are you doing?! NOOO! Not there! It's too hot! It burns! It- It- It-It's-**

"… **not bad, actually."**

Ms. Mankanshoku continued on with her ironing, ignoring the rather odd noises coming from the newest member to their family wardrobe in favor of whistling a heady tune.

" **Yes, yes, that's the spot. Aaahhh, years of being stuck in that cage did a number on my silky-soft hide. Wench! Don't forget to properly fold my pleats! Ooh yeah, that's the ticket…"**

His compatriot garment chuckled from where he was hanging on a fancy wooden hanger, already fully relaxed after his own premium treatment.

"I know, right? Ms. Mankanshoku sure knows how to take care of clothing."

" **Soo good…"**

Maybe this deal wouldn't be so bad after all.


	11. I Hurt You

**Well, haven't triple checked this, but it'll have to do.**

* * *

"You've been awfully quiet."

Truth be to this observation, the once tailed beast turned living garment hesitated to answer for another half a beat, leaving Naruto to continue staring up at the alien constellations in solitary resignation.

" **You were talking to the vixen. Part of our deal was that you would stay out of my business. It is only fair if I do the same.** "

This was not an answer Naruto was expecting, and he attempted to look down at the preternaturally living embroidery to see if he could glimpse another motive behind those familiar yet unaccustomed eyes.

"… **of course, if you continually screw-up your attempts at procreation I may be forced to step in at some point."**

Naruto balked, choking on the slow and meditative breath he was drawing in.

"Proc- what! No, no, no! You've got it all wrong! Aha! I got it! You're trying to mess with me! That's how you're planning on undoing this bargain!"

" **It's far too easy to mess with you. It's no challenge.** " Kurama rolled his stitched eyes and sighed, an odd sensation Naruto was just getting used to again. " **But it seems that you really are ignorant to your own feelings. How on earth did your species manage to survive for this long?** "

"What do you mean?"

" **Never mind. Your puny mind can only handle one thing at a time. Try to focus on the immediate problem."**

"Right."

An uncomfortable silence fell over them once again while the two contemplated their unique sides to the situation.

Except, it wasn't quite silence, for the sounds of nightlife and mechanical workings of the living city continued well on into the night, interrupting that peaceful calm he normally looked forward to. It was its own kind of silence, though. White noise which meant nothing and shouldn't have had a bearing on him being able to enjoy the stars, but did all the same.

"So what do you think I should do, Kurama?"

It had been so long since the chakra beast had heard his name pronounced on a human's lips, he took a pause to decide whether he enjoyed it or not. He willfully admitted that he let himself be coerced into this détente (if only in private), though had yet to reach a final verdict on if he actually enjoyed the company. Or rather, if it was worth the newfound freedom. He recognized a curiosity he still held regarding the Uzumaki, wanting to see if he would be any different than all the generations which came before.

Perhaps this was the curse of immortality, constantly trying to prove oneself wrong.

"Ne, are you listening?"

" **I think you should stay here."**

Once again managing to surprise him, Naruto had no idea what to say to that other than the automatic denial already programed into his head.

"What?! No way, you can't be serious."

" **I am. And I believe that this falls under the provision of 'trying to keep your sorry ass alive'."**

His words were an allergic reaction. He wanted to assume the Kyuubi was underestimating his abilities. That, and he needed to reinforce in his own mind the importance of protecting his precious people back home. But before he could relate this in strong words that might even break the deal they had made, Kurama continued.

" **Furthermore, as much as I hate to admit it, this is for the preservation of my own life as well. Do not underestimate the Rabbit Goddess. She is the mother of all Chakra, I am but a fraction of the power she possessed long ago, and she would like nothing more than to get her hands on me and my brethren. The safest and smartest thing for the both of us is to stay put, far, far away from where she might reach us."**

Though shaken by his reluctant partner's humble words, Naruto was not about to accept the decision so easily.

"So what if she's your mom, or grandma, whatever? Children are supposed to surpass their parents, right? 'Sides, Senketsu and I managed to slow her down for a bit after defeating Madara, so she shouldn't be at full strength for a while. And what about your siblings? Don't you care what happens to them?"

" **Don't presume to know how I feel about the other Tailed Beasts, human."** Kurama growled, sending goosebumps up Naruto's legs. **"We are not mortal beings. You could never hope to understand what kind of bond exists between immortals woven from the same thread."**

"Hey- I might not know what it's like to be conceived of Chakra, but don't talk to me like I don't understand bonds." He said, ignoring the opportunity to snicker at the unintentional reference to the fox's new fabricated state. "You yourself claim to not understand people, and so how can you say that the connections we make aren't any less real, aren't stronger than what you guys have?"

The foxy outfit had no prepared rebuttal for this, but Naruto was also not going to let him slink out of the discussion so easily now that he didn't have the seal to hide behind.

"Also, what makes you think she _can't_ reach us? Isn't she like some sort of dimension-hopping alien? If she's seeking to reclaim all chakra, you can bet your ass she'd find her way out here." Naruto sat up amidst the Kyuubi's silence, staring at his fist clenched so hard it started to bleed. The drops being soaked up with little sparks of light by the cloth. "And I'm not going to let her get to them. I'm not going to let her take over our planet, let alone this one."

He continued to stare in detached fascination at his bodily essence being absorbed by the fine threads while Kurama pondered this newest development mutely, not admitting that he had neglected to take some of those facts into account.

"Hey, what're you doing out here?"

Both were broken from their separate but intertwining thoughts by a third recognizable voice breaking the nighttime monotony.

"Hey." Naruto greeted back, relaxing his fist and quickly wiping the dark stain on the hakama. "Could ask you the same thing. Figured you'd want to say hi to the others before they went to bed. You disappeared awfully quick when I got snatched up."

"I had things to do." She clucked dismissively, not willing to admit that she had been bored out of her mind wandering the streets waiting for them to settle down. "Besides, I've bunked with the Mankanshoku's for the last year now, don't always need to be so needy of them."

"I see." Naruto said, even though he didn't. "I guess… I just thought…"

"What?"

"I dunno."

Ryῡko frowned, not used to having to be the one to pry out the true thoughts of others. Mako was always spouting whatever was on her mind, and her sister and the others were pretty straight forward. She'd beaten the answers out of everyone else, including herself. But for once, it just didn't feel like the right option here.

"I suppose I just though that you'd want to spend all the time you could with them." After gaining confidence with his regathered thoughts, Naruto continued while Ryῡko listened. "If I had a family, or even something like It, I'd want to spend ever chance I could with them, ya know?"

He finished the thought staring up once more at the stars, perhaps looking for his own family out there.

This notion was not a surprise to Ryῡko, and had been once of the reasons she'd had the instinct to leave him alone with the crazy family. Though she'd likely never admit it, she felt somewhat indebted to the blond and wanted to make what promised to be his last days on the planet at least a little bit better than his first.

But what did surprise her was that she could sympathize with the statement as an outsider. There'd been a time when she'd been in a similar position, a vagabond and a wanderer, perpetual transfer student without even a school who would take her. She'd born the title with pride, and didn't think she needed anyone else to make her whole.

And here Naruto was, cast aside and scorned by everyone he ever knew and yet stopping at nothing to belong. She'd long since accepted her own deficits. She might even admit that he had a leg up on her in maturity. It'd taken her years to get where she was now, and only through Mako's indominable efforts had her shell been cracked. Watching him interact with the- with _her_ family as shadow puppets from outside the humble home just helped cement her thirst and her need for that human contact she'd avoided for so long.

"I do." She admitted to herself. "I want to spend time with them. Every day. Every hour that I can." Naruto turned to her with a painful question waiting to be asked written all over his face. Ryῡko sighed because she knew what that question was. "But I know that someday I'm going to have to leave here. It's the end of school, the end of the line. I can't just hang around here the rest of my life. I thought I'd be okay with taking off on the road. I'd always done it before and never looked back. But now… but now…"

She struggled with the words as she had for some time now. She wanted to look down at Senketsu for support but knew that doing so was part of the problem. Naruto's intent and compassionate stare didn't help either, because she somehow realized that if he knew her fears he'd try to take them all on himself. This was something she had to confront on her own. She took a deep breath, and took the plunge.

"After I thought I lost Senketsu, I realized that nothing is forever. I'd become strong, but I'd also become dependent on others to help me. I thought: 'What would happen when they aren't there?' 'What if a choice I make drags them down?' 'What would **I** do if I lost them?' I didn't want that guilt on my mind.

"I'd always been okay on my own before, but now I know I'm not, and it scares me. I tried moving on from Senketsu, I leaned heavy in Satsuki and Mako because of it. Of course, they never ever complained.

"But I just don't want that! For me or them! I don't want to be burdened by this fear of losing them! I don't want to **be** a burden!"

Her voice had escalated as she went on, to the point where cats leapt scared from fence boards and nosy neighbors leaned out to peek and ogle at the latest gossip. But Ryῡko didn't care. She'd wanted to voice these passions for some time, the impending deadline of graduation had always been there, just hanging like a guillotine.

Until that point, she had yet to find someone who could possibly understand where she was coming from. And so, she bottled them up for fear of having them wasted, or worse, saddle someone else with her heavy guilt.

Because she knew her family would take it on without question. Mako would blindly listen to her, letting half the words pass over her head and nine times out of ten come back with a half-baked rant which would make some kind of juvenile sense, lifting her spirits but not helping her to resolve anything. Though drastically improved, she didn't suppose her sister would share the same outlook, or even know what she was bitching about. And Senketsu… she supposed she had tried to keep it hidden from him most of all. If she confessed to him her insecurities, it would undo all the good bringing him back had done.

So Naruto ended up being the target of her unvarnished sentiments yet again. And though remorseful of that fact, she knew he had invited it upon himself by being so damned accepting. She told herself it was better because after a short while she'd never see him again. Then again, maybe somewhere she knew that too was a lie. She could only hope if he understood her like she thought, he'd understand that as well.

"Ryῡko…"

Naruto shushed Senketsu with but a look. Not an admonishing or fierce one, just something that spoke of his duty and resolution.

"Ryῡko-chan, listen to me." She turned to him with eyes inflamed by raw emotion, passionate sorrow for what she had just said, or anger with him for daring to be so familiar. He neither knew nor cared. "Please, listen to me. You can't think like that. There's no shame in wanting-no, in needing other people. It's part of being human. Hell, I think it's part of being any living being." He shot an apologetic look at the Kamui who was dutifully allowing him his say. At the same time, he also snuck a peak to see if the Kyuubi was paying attention despite his earlier statement.

He was.

"Even solitary animals need companionship now and then. Friendship doesn't make you weaker, and it doesn't drag other people down because part of being friends is supporting one another. You don't think that Mako needs you just as much as you do her? You don't think that Satsuki is happier knowing that you are her sister?"

She conceded his point with a stiff nod towards her feet. But its imposition was still felt as her knees came to her chest and she curled in on herself defensively. Seeing that she was looking away for the moment, he shot another surreptitious glance to his own woven partner. Kurama met his gaze with impudence, annoyed at the silent implication that he was no different in this regard. Naruto just smiled.

"Personally…" His smile broadened when she deigned look back up at him. "Personally, I think any person would be lucky to have you as a friend."

"That…"

Even after everything she'd said and done to him, she knew that she should have expected such an answer. In fact, she probably knew the answer all along and just wanted to hear it from someone else, as if her own words would sully it. Whereas his would give it new meaning. And it wasn't just that he was wiser, or kinder or any flavor of better than she. Just that he was someone else, like her, who had longed for acceptance but never knew when they found it. Both had their own version of a guilty conscience and could only offer one another absolution.

"… that's the corniest thing I've ever heard."

Naruto just laughed and gave her an ear-splitting grin. And for the first time she found no irritation or desire to punch the silly expression off his face, and instead discovered a modicum of warmth not unlike the sensation she had when synchronizing with the Kamui.

"Yeah, I suppose it is." He squinted and mussed the back of his hair. "I'm just glad I held off on the full 'nice-guy' pose." He parodied the stance with an overemoted smirk and a thumb jerked to the sky.

Ryῡko snorted. "Me too. I'd hate to have to go and take back all the points you've earned."

"Oh?" Naruto asked with a sly look. "And just what's the score? Could it be that we're friends now?"

"Don't push it, bud. I ought to penalize you just for asking." But there was an equal smirk on her face which lent no animosity to the words. "You're just lucky you earned some bonus with that little speech of yours. Who knew a bonehead like you could be so philosophical?"

"Thanks." Naruto flopped on his back. "I have my ups and downs." Just like they all did. "Ne, Ryῡko-chan, speaking of, I never really got a chance to thank you for what you said to me back in the infirmary."

"What? Oh, right. Nah, you don't owe me anything for that. 'Sides, I'm pretty sure you did mumble out something of the sort." She waved off, mimicking his move and laying fully on the tile roof.

"Really? I don't really remember."

"No surprise. It was just after I knocked you straight and you were talking all stupid and depressed again."

"Oh, yeah…"

They lost themselves in the brief moment of amusement derived from that memory. Ryῡko, though, wondered what kind of life he'd had before if he could just laugh off such a thing.

She would never know, but for him, it could mean more than she could possibly ever understand. He was no stranger to being a punching bag for the frustrations of his female companions. But even when she was actively wailing on him he realized that it was not solely for her satisfaction. Well, maybe it was, but only if because her satisfaction included him no longer being so melancholy. It might have been screwed up, but it was the closest thing to caring he'd got outside of the sterilized hugs from his sister figure and the 'tough love' from her master.

The oncoming sobriety when his thoughts drifted towards Tsunade and Shizune was redirected with an unintelligible mumble coming from his star-gazing companion.

"I'm sorry, what?"

She sighed in defeat. "I said, thank you."

"Umm… for wha-"

"For bringing back Senketsu, you idiot! For putting up with my bitchiness, and my frustration, and my loud mouth! For doing shit you didn't have to and probably never should have!"

He looked over at her in owlish surprise as she crossed her arms and turned as far away from him as possible while still lying on her back, so he couldn't see the blush on her cheeks or when it spread to the vast expanses of exposed skin.

"No problem." He said at last with a small smile, laying back on the cool tile and relaxing against the scalloped arches. "It's just what friends do. They help each other out."

She resisted the urge to become vexed with his continued magnanimity which was hard in her already irked state, and instead resolved to just accept it as his nature to be so altruistic. Maybe she was a little bit jealous of his forgiving attitude, but maybe too she just wanted to see him think about himself every once in a while.

And so they continued to look at the stars for a little while longer. Marveling in their brilliance even with the pollution from all the city lights creeping into their vision, and occasionally wondering at how quiet and considerate both their outfits were being.

" **Are you two done talking yet? It's hard enough listening to this idiot blab to himself all the time, now I have to hear him stumble around a social conversation. Some of us would like to get so well-deserved rest. Hmph! At least when I was in the seal I didn't have to put up with all this yammering."**

Well, so much for that.

"Why you little-!"

"Please, Kyuubi-san, I know this is new for you but try to show a little bit of courtesy."

" **Courtesy?! I am a great and powerful demon! I don't have to do anything I do not wish to! It is purely out of my benevolence that you monkeys continue to breath! Just hurry up and mate and quit with all the extraneous gum-flapping!** "

"That's it! I'm going to tear this thing a new set of arm and leg holes!"

"No- wait, please Ryῡko-chan! I'm still wearing him!"

"Well, you should try and keep better control of clothes! Now listen to me for once and hold still!"

"Ryῡko, you really should try to learn and control your temper. I can already tell this is giving you high blood pressure."

"Quit nagging and start helping, Senketsu! Besides, don't think I'm letting you off the hook, the Kyuubi's bad behavior is a reflection on all Kamui!"

"What?! But-but that's not fair…"

" **See! What did I tell you?! Humans care nothing for fairness. Equality and the like are just tools for them to- wait, no! Don't pull there! That's a sensitive area- no, not there either! Ahh! You're tearing my seams! I wasn't stitched to stretch that far!"**

"Eep! Please, I beg of you Ryῡko-chan-!"

"Ryῡko-chan?"

There was a momentary pause on the darkened rooftop as all shadowed movement came to a screeching, clattering halt. The young daughter of the residence squinted her eyes, adjusting them from the yellow attic light spilling forth and to the starlit night.

"Naruto-kun? What are you two doing up here making so much noise?"

"Ummm…."

Though Ryῡko knew the clock was ticking as soon as Mako poked her head out of the small trap-door for them to come up with some sort of plausible excuse to explain why she was in the process of undressing him, her brain couldn't fit the words to her mouth which was flapping like a windsock.

"Ryῡko-chan was helping me train my Kamui!"

"Yes! That's it!"

She quickly whipped him up to a standing position and started brushing off an irate Kyuubi who was growling at her for both the contact and the insinuation that he was some sort of mongrel to be house broken. Though she was scared the garment may in fact bite, she was far more afraid of the consequences if Mako were to get the wrong idea. Once that girl got a thought in her head, there was little one could do to talk her out of it.

"Yeah! Just thought I'd run him through the basics a little before I settled down for the night!" She leaned over to Naruto's plank-stiff form and whispered in his ear. "Thanks, I owe you one."

The younger girl seemed to ponder for an inordinately long period of time wherein the two wearing Kamui sweated it out, much to the continued annoyance of the outfits they were wearing.

"Okay!" All four let out a breath at least two didn't know they were holding. "Just make sure you don't keep Naruto up too late! I'm sure he's got a big day ahead of him tomorrow."

"Yeah…" Naruto muttered, slightly dejected at the reminder.

"Yes ma'am!" Ryῡko saluted glibly. "I'll be down in a sec, and I'll make sure blondie doesn't push himself."

"Great! Oh, and Naruto, Mom says that she dug up some of Pop's old nightwear you can borrow. And Mataro 'found' another futon you can use. It smells a little funny, but then again everything inside does. Anyway, don't wear yourself out and hurry on down when you're ready! I'm going to go brush my teeth and hit the hay because I am pooped!"

Both of them found that distinctly hard to believe with the way she rattled off the pronouncement without breaks. Nonetheless they did the wise thing and just smiled and nodded their heads in tacit acceptance, the totality which they were agreeing to was lost somewhere in translation.

As the rude little door slammed shut, leaving the two once more in quasi-silence, Naruto had time to process some of what the girl had spewed forth in his moment of relief after getting away without a lashing, verbal or otherwise.

"Wait… did she say what I think she did?"

Ryῡko shrugged wearily. "I have no idea, what do you think she said?"

"Um, I missed most of it, but I'm pretty sure I heard something about clothes and… a futon for me maybe?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, I-I don't know. Doesn't that just seem kind of…?"

"Yeah." She just laughed and shook her head. "That's Mako. Well, really all the Mankanshoku's are crazy like that. But you get used to it."

"But, won't I be… intruding?"

Ryῡko paused as she opened the small hatch, one foot on the pencil-thin ladder which by some miracle hadn't given out already. She looked back at her bemused and disturbingly frightened companion, realizing not for the first time just how unaccustomed he was to being accepted, and not just the Mankanshoku's brand of indiscriminate goodwill.

"What? Nah." She assured with a cocky smile and a hand beckoning him to follow. "I'm sure you've already been doted on and prodded, and more than likely stuffed full of Ms. Mankanshoku's croquettes."

His stomach gave a drunkenly satisfied grumble, border-lining on sick.

"Yes." He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing yet.

"Well then, what's the matter? It might be a bit cramped, but the floor's comfortable enough and you get used to the snoring. Plus, hardly ever gets chilly in there with all the bodies."

Though it was not even spring yet, the mild night was warm enough to be pleasant with the oddly cozy form of the Kyuubi wrapped around him. He had slept on enough hard floors and ground to last him a lifetime. Living by himself he never had to deal with snoring roommate, and most of the complex itself was vacated except for him so there were no noisy neighbors, either. All in all, the spiel didn't sound all that appealing…

Except that it was a gift from the heart. Something small, yes, a place to rest his head and his feet, hang his hat (or in this case ornery Kimono). But it was something he never had before, an offer of not being alone. Even if it was just for a night.

"Okay. Are-are you sure you don't mind?"

She gave him a deadpan look as she stopped halfway through the portal once again.

"You wouldn't ask me that if you knew just how many times the men of the household tried to peep on me." Naruto briefly sweated the knowledge that he had once been guilty of just such a crime. "So as long as you keep your hands to yourself, it's all good." She might still try and sleep on the opposite side of the room, but he didn't need to know that.

With that frank remark tossed out there, Naruto shrugged and moved himself to the small portal rather than leap off the roof and come in through the tiny window like he'd seen a sweat-shirt wearing dog do moments earlier. Despite their own eccentricities, he wanted to make a good impression.

"Ne, Ryῡko-chan."

"Yeah, what's up now?"

"Thanks."

She just shook her head with a small smile as she descended the ladder.

"Don't thank me, thank Mako."

"Don't worry, I will."

"And besides," She said under her breath. Mainly to herself, but then again, with Naruto's superhuman hearing maybe she was hoping he heard it.

"What are friends for?"


	12. Watching the Clothes Go Round

**Did I hear someone wanted an update?**

 **I know, I know, it's been way too long. But in my defense I'm pretty actively working on two stories at once, and it's all I can do just to get up in the morning for school. So bear that in mind and go easy on me, if you'd be so kind.**

 **Anyway, enough excuses, here we go…**

* * *

" _Where are we, Naruto-san?"_

" _Somewhere that was… important to me."_

 _The Kamui dared not speak any more, fear of intruding on his host's personal matters. The choice was justified when they came upon a small clearing with two roughly hewn mounds in the center._ _The crude metal slab behind one of the mounds was unnecessary to indicate this as a grave site. Though grass and fallen leaves had blanketed most of the disturbed earth, they could do nothing to erase the still fresh pain which lingered like the mist so common in this country._

" _Hello, Zabuza-san, Haku."_

 _Senketsu could tell this was a moment of fragility for the young shinobi and he tried to remove himself as best he could. But it was useless, for he also knew that this visit was in part caused by his very presence. He was the culprit which precipitated such unease in the young man, such turmoil to set that stalwart path in a curlicue to end up back here._

 _He knew that Naruto needed something to root him while his world was tossed upside-down. Thus, while he knew it was discourteous, he couldn't help but listen to what was so important._

 _Listen, and feel guilty._

 _The inside-conversation was difficult to follow, but it was rife with the emotions he supposed ought to be there. He could feel them, taste them as the tears flowed from his wearer's eyes._

 _Oh, how he wished he could do something to restore his confidence. Oh, how he wished he'd never shown up in this strange land. In all respects… it would have been better that he died on that return journey to Earth._

 _But Naruto's words were a sermon against that mindset. He could extract that much from the one-sided conversation as the young shinobi recalled another tale of tragedy._

 _It was ironically this invasion of Naruto's privacy which made him remember his vow to Ryῡko, that he was not simply a tool, that they were not simply weapons to be used to defeat the Life-Fibers._

 _They were people. And they were friends. And they would work together to overcome._

 _Someday, he hoped to be Naruto's friend as well._

* * *

"And so, Kyῡbi-sama, where do you think you would rate Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's power?"

It was strange. The whole thing, really, but having so many eyes trained on him and yet not actually looking at _him_. But at least Naruto was getting some help at long last.

" **Hmmm… difficult to say, especially with how much time has passed."** The demon-turned devilishly good-looking outfit pondered the question for the millionth time himself, finally resigned to lay the facts out bare. **"She is the mother of all Chakra, and our father used the entirety of her power to create the nine of us, though not necessarily splitting it evenly."** Amongst his siblings he would always boast of being the strongest. But it was a difficult thing to quantify. Power could be bested by treachery, and his arrogance had cost him victories against both Bijῡ and human. Was there a qualitative aspect to strength then? That was a question for another time.

" **Though I am technically a part of her, I share none of her memories and so have only hearsay and my father's stories to go on. Legend has it that she arrived from space, much like your Life-Fibers."** This confirmation caused a disturbed murmur among the crowd of listeners. **"In addition to being the mother of all chakra users, she is also the progenitor of all Doujutsu. The Rinegan, the Byakugan, and the cursed** _ **Sharingan**_ **."**

Though managing to reign in his most temperamental episodes, the mentioning of that topic still managed to rile Kurama. Instead of hairs being raised, threads became hard and itchy. Naruto didn't have the heart to tell him he was bunching up in all the wrong places, and he tried admirably to remain silent whilst Senketsu filled in the rest with what he knew about the Bloodline Limits.

" **Anyway… of course her name gave rise to the Kaguya clan which resided in Kirigakure until the purge. I guess that makes her the only wielder of the bone-jutsu left. Like them, she has almost complete control over her skeletal structure, able to harden them past steel and most alloys. But even that is nothing to some of the other rumors. Supposedly, she can also create portals in between worlds. Not just in between places in the universe, but between the universes themselves."**

Though it sounded almost like a joke, no one was laughing. To have such an intimidating being tell them all this in absolute frankness was enough to send even the heartiest heroes running. It was only after going through a trial against a similarly omnipotent foe that they were not giving up all hope right then and there.

" **Of course, she may be more, or less powerful when she finally catches up with things. Legends never cover everything, sometimes combining powers, and sometimes misinterpreting them. I am sorry I cannot be of more assistance."**

Though miffed that the Kyῡbi was actually being considerate enough to apologize to someone, Naruto listened like everyone else with rapt attention as their technical wizard wove his mathematical magic.

"That is perfectly alright Kyῡbi-sama. I think I have at least enough to create a reasonable model."

While numbers crunched both biologically and electronically, Naruto glanced around the room, absent in his thoughts. And truthfully, slightly uncomfortable with the dedicated effort being invested into his problem. Although, no one else seemed to give it a second thought as they all followed the severely militaristic woman with almost pious devotion. It was obvious he had Satsuki to thank for all this.

"Boy, you guys are sure putting a lot of time into this." Naruto grinned sheepishly towards the woman in question. "I guess I really owe you all big, huh? Heh, heh…" Even though he knew it was true beyond any doubt, he hesitated to put himself at the mercy of such a shrewd woman, and wondered just what would be entailed when she came to collect his debt.

"Hmph!" Flicking her eyes back to the screen, Satsuki gave a contemptuous snort which made Naruto's eye twitch in ire. Now that things had settled down somewhat, he could appreciate just how much the woman irritated him. "If this Kaguya woman is as dangerous as you both make her out to be, then it is prudent to make our own preparations should she decide to endanger this world as well."

It was simply incredible how she managed to both irritate him and make him feel guilty at the same time. Though he supposed that was how she managed to coopt so many followers.

Before he could slink off into a corner and die of embarrassment however, he kenned onto a tensing in her hands. It began around the pommel of her longer sword and was accompanied by a further downward turn in her lips. Almost like she was swallowing something especially officious.

"And… being as Senketsu is such a valued comrade to all of us, we are indebted at least this much for his safe return."

Naruto blinked in wonderment, trying to figure out if this was an actual official 'thank you' for his efforts. Glancing around at the rest of the shocked faces in the room, he guessed it was, which only served to make him more shocked (and if he was honest, a little giddy in the devious sort of way).

"Umm… right." He decided to save that fact for later.

"Okay, and… done."

In the meantime, Inumuta had finished with his own ministrations and another series of meaningless (to them) charts and graphics popped up on the IMAX-sized screen. Including what appeared to be a trio of caricatures of- if he wasn't mistaken- Naruto himself, Kamui-Kurama, and the Rabbit Goddess.

Depicted as an actual rabbit.

" **The Rabbit Goddess is just a title, stupid ningen."**

"Regardless," Inumuta deflected, hiding his blush behind the perpetual high collar. ", this is sufficient to run any scenario we input. It doesn't matter what the avatars actually look like."

"WAAA! Naruto-kun! How could you want to fight such a cute little bunny?!"

"Mankanshoku," Gamagōri loomed menacingly. "if you wish to remain here you should learn to take this matter seriously!"

"Why did you invite her again?" Naruto leaned in to whisper to his counterpart.

"You think I can go anywhere without her tagging along?"

"Fair point."

During their little back and forth, the combine efforts of the Elite Four managed to reach at least a haphazard impasse with the obstinate girl.

"Okay! So, the cute little bunny is really just a nefarious disguise for a mean-old hag who wants to put a curse on everybody!"

Close enough.

"Moving on… short of a holy hand-grenade falling into our laps, how do we go about defeating this thing?" Ryῡko tapped a finger on her jaw as she stared at the cartoonish representations of powerhouses.

While the others mulled the problem over in their respective corners, Naruto looked at his compatriot taken aback.

"We?"

She gave him one of those confident smirks that was beginning to grow on him and folded her arms.

"Don't look too much into it. Like Oneesan said, Kaguya could pose a problem for all of us. 'Sides," She flicked a hand roughly against the hem of her skirt. "Senketsu threatened to nag me about my weight if I didn't help."

"I see."

The self-assured smile she had on drooped a bit hearing the disappointment in his voice. But even as she was getting annoyed with his persistent ill-humor, she soon found herself accompanied by a subtler, but no less profound smile hoisting up his cheeks. He nodded resolutely, looking towards the screen.

"I'm glad."

While not watching her younger sister and the odd young man during their interaction, Satsuki was without a doubt paying attention.

' _It is good to see some of that indominable attitude Senketsu spoke so highly about begin to return. You should know by now that I do not support losers, Uzumaki, but if Ryῡko can help you recover some of that determined spirit, I shall support your goals with all my strength.'_

And as the three shared this silent triangular interaction, another chibi-character popped up on the screen wearing a little sailor's outfit and carrying an oversized pair of scissors.

"Well, I suppose that part's done." The blue-haired young man spun away from his desktop, staring pointedly at the blond and demon garment combo. "Now the only thing left is to get some more data on what we have to work with."

* * *

"Can't say I haven't been looking forward to this."

"Likewise."

The last two Kamui left in existence as well as their bearers stared back at each other amidst the graded and repaved courtyard, leftover dust scraped off by the strong breeze riding micro-currents and swirling into eccentric eddies between them.

"Just be sure to restrain yourselves from damaging my school." Satsuki instructed, regarding the manically eager looks on the two teens with disapproval.

"I will need Ryῡko to push Naruto and Kyῡbi as much as possible though, to collect any meaningful data. So they can't afford to hold back too much." Inumuta contradicted from his questionably safe position behind a reinforced concrete bunker.

The hideout was jampacked with electronic equipment the Student Council President was fairly certain she'd never seen before, and was left to wonder where it had come from.

"I guess then it's our job to make sure they don't." Sanageyama declared with more bravado than he had reason to show. But the Disciplinary Committee Chair Nodded with dutiful agreement.

"Ryῡko-chan~ you're supposed to show these boys how to behave…" Jakuzure whined behind her baton, but then uttered darkly. "… so show'em who's boss and break their legs!" The other two took a cautionary step away from the fearsome pigmy.

"Yeah, yeah, got all that already. Just tell us when you're ready."

The Life-Fiber imbued woman waved off their concern as her sister turned to look at Inumuta who then nodded in affirmation. She then raised her main weapon to the sky, morning sunlight glinting auspiciously from the tip before it cut down in the air between the two.

"Hajime!"

Satsuki, demonstrating her extreme poise and confidence in the two combatants did not move a muscle as battle errupted all around her. Amidst a violent and close explosion which whipped her steely blue locks back and forth, she turned on her heel and walked calmly back a distance, never so much as glancing at the war raging behind her.

But her safety was not even in the considerations of the two sparring teens going at it like rabid Pitbulls let off the leash. This was something the both had been looking forward to eagerly for a long time. The desire might have started even before they were fully aware of it themselves. Back at that first encounter, which felt like years ago but in reality had been less than a month.

In fact, maybe they had been waiting their entire lives for this and never realized what they were yearning for. A meeting of two kindred souls who could understand one another on a spiritual level, and only now were beginning to appreciate the other on an intellectual one.

It was an interesting experience for the two inhuman lifeforms as well, one which might have helped them both understand humans a little better. And yet conversely, added another undiscovered dimension to the complex equation which was humanity. In this respect, Senketsu probably had a leg up on his contemporary, for he had desired to work closely with Ryῡko all along. For his failure to properly mesh with Naruto, he would do his best to make sure the Kyῡbi could succeed.

Both had let out primal screams at the start of the match, pent up emotions of all sorts blending into one dissonant note which shook the grounds next to explosions echoing around the walls.

In the spirit of fairness, and so no permanent damage was done on either side, the scissor blades were divided evenly between them. Though Ryῡko had more experience with said weapon, neither had any formal training and so were evenly matched as Naruto used his vermillion blade like an oversized kunai.

And in any case, the duel turned into more of a slugging match in which no surface was left unmarred.

But Ryῡko was without a doubt the more experienced when it came to working with the Life-Fibers and had already synchronized with Senketsu at the beginning of the match. Whereas Naruto and the Kyῡbi were relative neophytes to even tolerating one another. And despite the impressive natural strength in each, it showed in their lagging movements.

Even from her position at the bottom a crater, she smirked in pre-ordained victory.

"Senketsu-Shippu!"

Even before the words were out of her mouth she was skimming along the ground at the shocked shinobi who was not prepared for such a rapid transformation. He braced the ungainly weapon in front of him and let her crash against it, pushing him back with long trails dragging in the dirt from his heels.

He gained no relief even when the pressure let up, for it was followed seamlessly by the girl's engine-shrouded leg whipping up to slam into him and blast him back with a concentrated outgas.

Pressed even further to the defense, he flipped and dug his feet into the earth to arrest his retreat He was determined not to give up any more ground and be forced into a corner. He kicked off and flew like an arrow in the opposite direction towards his adversary, but was again caught by surprise when she reappeared with a burst of speed by his side and slashed at him. First with the scissor blade and then with spikes which jutted out from every part of Senketsu's body.

She managed to score none too few hits, small cuts littering his bare chest and nicking the Kamuified Kurama, much to his annoyance. Luckily, he was able to distance himself before any solid blow landed, showing that he had not atrophied as a shinobi.

" **What are you doing, brat?"** The Kyuubi growled at his host. **"You're letting her make a fool out of us. If you don't start picking up the pace, I'm going to take over, and as per our deal there isn't anything you can do to stop me, as long as I let the vixen live."**

Naruto ground his teeth but didn't have time for a rebuttal as Ryῡko jetted back into his range, unrelenting in her assault as much as he would normally be.

Very well. He realized that if she was going to pull out tricks he couldn't do yet, he would do likewise. He let out a small prayer as he put his hands in a cross-shaped seal. His sigh of relief came out with a series of resounding pops which covered the field in orange and black.

"That all you got?!"

And just as soon as they appeared, nearly half of all his clones were wiped out as the spikes she had shown previously jutted out to extreme lengths, skewering dozens on each and dismissing even more with a simple shake of her shoulders like a wet dog.

"Like hell it is!"

Through the billowing clouds shot the legions of surviving clones, most all of which were brandishing a Rasengan in addition to their scissor blades. But Ryῡko's smile only broadened as the fight finally started to get interesting.

Her rough swordsmanship caught the first wave of Naruto clones, pops going off like firecrackers as she jerked and dodged out of the way of their forward assault. But even she was beginning to get overwhelmed. Before she could get to this point, though, the ground underneath her caught fire as she rocketed with Seketsu into the air, well out of the reach of the ground-bound clones.

At least that's what she hoped.

But in the continuously obscuring cloud came a small salvo of shuriken which she scoffed at firstly. But soon regretted her early dismissal when they multiplied one-hundred-fold much like the clones.

Though most of the cuts healed near-instantly, it still hurt to be peppered by the pointy metal stars, and she growled in annoyance as she scanned the ground for the original amongst the remaining copies.

"There!"

"Damnit! Isn't flying like cheating or something? She's out of the ring!"

" **Quit your griping. You think Kaguya is going to play by any rules? You're going to have to figure out a way to defeat an airborne opponent anyway."**

He conceded the point reluctantly since Ryῡko had already spotted him and he needed to focus on that issue first. But then Naruto began to realize the truth in the demon's words and began thinking of a way to overcome this problem. The answer was obvious as it hit him a moment before his opponent did.

"Senketsu and I were able to do that trick once. You think you're up to the challenge?" He asked hurriedly with a smirk trained on the ballistic woman.

" **Hmph! I am the greatest of Bijῡ. Flying should be no problem for the likes of me. Just don't get in my way."**

"Wouldn't dream of it, now hurry up!"

As much as he'd like to chastise the ingrate for ordering him around, Kurama was honestly starting to get a little worried waiting there under the knife, and so set about figuring out his newfound biology.

"Hey! I think you got iiiiiiIIIIIIAAAAAAA!"

Neither of them were quite ready for the transformation. Naruto less so, for he had yet to synchronize at all with Kurama, and so was little more than an action figure stuck haphazardly into a wayward model rocket.

"What is Uzumaki thinking?" Questioned Satsuki as she calmly sipped her tea behind the concrete barrier. "Surely he should know by now that he must sync with the Kyῡbi before attempting such a maneuver."

"To be fair, the Kamui are symbiotes, and it requires just as much effort on the Kyῡbi's part as it does Naruto's." Inumuta observed clinically, admitting that it was not a smart decision even though it got the teen out of danger temporarily. "While I am willing to trust his assessment on the demon's potential threat to us, I fear that doesn't necessarily make him cooperative." He adjusted his glasses so that the glare from the screen covered up his inner thoughts. "And if that's the case… I see little hope that we can win against Kaguya."

Similar thoughts were going through Naruto's head as he was rocketed around the arena like a firehose without someone to hang on.

"Hold your horses, will you? I can't do squat if you don't let me fly this thing!" He berated his obstinate partner.

" **I told you, I can do this without your assistance, just try not get yourself killed and we will be fine!"**

"Bastard…" Naruto muttered under his breath, though he was sure the fox heard him.

There was no time for further argument, however, as suddenly a weight alighted on their combine backs.

"Hey there. Looks like you're having some trouble." Naruto paled at the casual greeting from the woman crouched like a cheery gargoyle. "Here, let me give you a hand. First lesson is on how to land properly!"

In the midst of his struggles and protests, she shoved down hard with both of her legs and sent the directionless rocket downwards towards the ground. Both teen and Life-Fiber garment balked at the inevitable impact, and braced themselves in their own way for the expected pain.

"Okay, this isn't going to work…"

There was no amount of preparation for that abrupt and brutal change in momentum. And no licking their wounds, either, which were mostly internal, both the physical and mental type. There was only the feeble effort to drag themselves out of the hole they found themselves in.

" **Damn right it isn't. But if you were to let me-"**

"Enough!" Naruto barked, pushing himself to his feet with the scissor blade he had just barely managed to hang on to. He stared defiantly at the crimson eyes on his chest.

"Enough, Kurama. The deal was that we wouldn't get in each other's way, but that's not going to work here. You see that?" He pointed back up at the hovering Ryῡko whom he could tell was gloating down at him, though also waiting patiently for him two start the next round. "-That's what partners look like. That's what strength looks like. If we keep resisting each other like we've been doing all my life, we're never going to have a hope of beating Ryῡko, much less Kaguya."

The Kyῡbi was about to contest this idea out of habit, but stopped himself when Naruto continued.

"You said yourself that Kaguya was stronger than you alone. Well, she's also probably stronger than all the Bijῡ combined as well. Alone, we have no hope." He grimaced, tightening his grip on the handle of his loaned weapon. "As much as I hate to admit it… we can't rely on Sasuke to help in this. I can't ask the others to get involved either. So what other choice do I have? What choice do we have?

"I don't know about you, but I don't want Ryῡko and the others fighting my battles for me. I don't want to resent anyone, least of all myself. I'm through arguing with you, I want to work hand and hand and not have bitter feelings about one another for the rest of my life.

"So, what do you say?"

Kurama contemplated these words for a moment. A moment in which he parsed over his own words thrown back at him, realizing that perhaps he had not fully understood all that he had agreed to. He had made a deal with the boy, giving him his word and accepting his in return. And yet he was still acting defensively, honoring the accord in word and not in spirit. In his arrogance, he never acknowledged his side of the reciprocity.

" **There is nothing to say."**

Naruto felt his heart drop at this dismissal. All hope he had of teaming up with the Fox, any inkling of anticipation with regards to defeating Kaguya, going home, resolving his many shortcomings, all were gone in an instant.

" **No more words need to be said. We speak with our actions from now on, Naruto!"**

He lifted his head as a warm upwelling disseminated throughout his body from his stomach outwards. It was indescribable in its totality, it filled him and yet felt like he was being removed from his earthly body and uplifted into a higher form. He was multiplying even as the two were becoming one. It was the same sensation from when he merged with Senketsu, but this was so much… more!

"Let's do this!"

" **LIFE-FIBER SYNCHRONIZE! KAMUI KURAMA!"**

Ryῡko had been waiting patiently for her sparring opponent to pick himself up off the ground she had planted him into, wanting to give him a fair chance to recover his strength and work out any kinks he was having with his partner.

At least, that was what she was telling herself. She mainly wanted to bask in the revived feeling of wearing and being worn by her best friend and her own partner. It had been so long that she almost forgot the sensation of meshing body and soul with the living garment.

But why did it have to feel so good? Why did it have to be so right, when she knew it couldn't last? Did one have to experience separation in order to appreciate that little time? Did one need heartbreak in order to tolerate love?

Even if it was so, it was worth it in her mind.

"I missed you, ya know?"

"Ee." The Kamui chuckled. "As did I. However, it may be best to save this reminiscing for later." As she was about to ask him what he meant by that, the answer became clear as a torrent of crimson energy was unbound far beneath them.

"Heh, I see." She smiled, not a smirk or a leer, but rife with excitement all the same. "Seems round two begins now, huh?"

The sounds of snapping threads and rearranging molecules was her answer as she was abruptly joined in the air by a wonderous and awesome sight.

"'Bout time."

Like all Kamui, it was difficult to know whether to be offended or impressed by the transformation. The kataginu's mass shifted into the shoulders even more and sharpened further, sprouting jets underneath which were helping to keep him aloft in conjunction with the ones jutting out from underneath the metallicized hakama. Everything in fact seemed to become armorized, and a breastplate sprouted across his upper chest. Yet like her own questionable battle suit, his stomach was exposed still, perhaps to draw attention to the reinvigorated 'tails' of cloth that were now fringed down their lengths making them look like furry concertina wire. The only thing completely new to the ensemble was a horned headband which appeared around his forehead with the kanji for 'nine' stylized so that it was nearly impossible to tell apart from that of 'sword' or 'power'.*

"Got that right."

"So," She removed her hand from her hip and held her weapon up level with her friendly adversary. "Ready for me to kick your ass now?"

"Whenever you are." Naruto answered with equal confidence. "Just don't expect me to make it easy for you."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

And they came together as one.

Down on the ground, the six observers were almost blown off their feet in spite of the massive concrete structure in front of them. Of course, Satsuki was still seated and so did not have this problem, but had to place a protective hand over her teacup, uncaring for the wave of dust which passed over everything else.

"Good thing this is military-grade equipment." Inumuta grumbled. "Aren't you three supposed to be making sure those two don't get out of hand?"

Though glowering at their classmate for presuming to given them orders, the active members of the Elite Four looked up at the battle being waged mostly in the sky above Honnouji.

"And how do you expect us to do that, exactly?"

"… Maybe we didn't think that through fully."

They circled one another like hungry sharks in the sea of air around them, lashing out with biting cuts every now and then, more to test one another's defenses than to score a hit. There was already blood in the water and they were raring to go.

Suddenly one of them decided to make a move, and the dynamic of the battle changed irreparably. From one there became a school of Naruto, all darting in a squadron V at Ryῡko who, rather than face them head on, began leading them on a wild goose chase.

As the six were closing on her tail in a vertical climb, she instantaneously let go of her transformation and began plummeting towards the ground. Her pursuers scrambled to react, but were too close to nabbing her before and so had no time to dodge as she latched onto the one in the center. She drove the clone against its brethren with a fierce kick and dispelled the both as she hopped onto yet another.

This clone was slightly more prepared and began dueling her while she was latched on to one of his undulating belt-tails. But before either could get more than a couple of blows in, a sword stabbed straight through the middle of the mildly shocked clone and straight into Ryῡko.

"Ha! Got ya- Oh Shit! Are you o-?"

The question was answered before it could be asked as she grabbed a hold of the blade in her stomach and yanked it and Naruto towards her. She kneed him brutally in the stomach, and Naruto was sent tumbling backwards. Barely recovering before he hit the ground, he stared back up dumbfoundedly with a hand clutching his doubled gut.

"D'you forget that I can survive almost anything?" She asked with her usual confidence restored to her face, accentuated by the second scissor blade now twirling in her left hand.

"Actually, I kind of did, yeah."

"It would be wise to take that into consideration in future battles. It is not unreasonable to assume that Kaguya also has such regenerative capabilities." Iumuta's voice carried out from behind the bunker with the Arena's excellent acoustics, reminding them both of that fact.

"Right…" Naruto muttered resignedly.

"But this is also a spar, and we shouldn't encourage them to cause any more damage than they already have the potential to do, Inumuta." The offhanded comment was distinctly loaded to be a command, and the technical member of the Elite Four bowed his head in reverence.

"Yes, of course. Forgive me, Satsuki-sama. However, I stand by what I said, as I have not yet collected enough combat data to make a meaningful simulation yet."

"Very well." She took a careful sip of tea, not paying any mind to her butler who was carefully dusting her off with a small hand brush. "But if they damage anything, it is on your head."

He might have protested, but there was ultimately no point. It was not nearly worth the risk of upsetting his leader. Luckily the battle took that time to remind them of its ongoing pace.

"Remember, this is a spar!" Naruto shouted even as he shot straight at the sword-wielding woman.

"Oi! You were the one who stabbed me! I ought to get at least one freebie!"

She bantered, though carefully reminded herself that she could not afford to cut Naruto with both halves of the twinned blades. His healing capacity was not yet on par with her own, and even if it was, the weapons were specifically designed to sever Life-Fibers irreparably.

But with the unconcerned and crazed look on Naruto's face, she didn't think she had much to worry about. At first, she wondered how he intended to fight her without another blade. But it soon became obvious as the tails proved that they, like most parts of the Kamui, were not just for show.

"Damnit! What the hell?! When did you get so good?"

Naruto smiled as he pounded on her defensive posture with his two fists in addition to the nine other limbs harder than most steel.

"Remember: It's not just me who's fighting!"

Her eyes widened in realization as she dared glance down at the narrowed eyes emblazoned on his lapels.

True enough, the Fox was sticking to his word and being cooperative. However, rather than an even exchange of power, each of them stuck to what they did best. Accidentally but instinctually maximizing their teamwork as if they had been doing it all their lives.

"Heh, well two can play at that game."

Not to be outdone, Senketsu already knew what to do and ballooned like a pufferfish with numerous spikes driving Naruto back from his relentless rampage. When the garment deflated it seemed to propel Ryῡko outward at him like a blowgun. He automatically brought his hands up in a feeble defense, but was preempted by the Kyuubi bracing his 'tails' in front of him.

The nine appendages burst outwards and shoved Ryῡko back, where Naruto followed with a Rasengan. She let it grind against her crossed blades, neither giving the other an inch as the fought for supremacy.

Naruto knew that she was strong even before the start of this match. His hard head could attest to that. But to match him blow for blow? Even with Senketsu aiding her, that was an impressive feat.

No time to marvel, though, as she broke the deadlock by rolling over and slashing at his side. Except, it wasn't just a single strike, oh no, that one rotation kickstarted a succession of them as she turned into a bladed drill bearing down on him.

" **I suggest getting out of here- and fast! I don't think I can hold her back!"**

He heeded his partner's words, jetting up above where she would have to follow. While the whirling Ryῡko-Senketsu combination flew off in a random direction, boring a nasty hole in the Academy wall, Naruto took the time to catch his breath.

It wasn't just that he was a little out of shape from not getting enough exercise the past few days. The 'little' spar with the Elite Four should have been enough. No, this was entirely due to the synchronization which was a concentrating effort to maintain. Not for the first time, he envied Ryῡko her natural ability such as he did Sasuke in his prowess.

Except that is was no longer envy. Or if it was, his reaction was like how it should have been all along. The wanting drove him onwards, pushed him to get better and stronger through boundless hard work. It was a good feeling.

It couldn't last, though, as the drill tornado turned upward seeking his scent. He paled, but immediately drew up a battle plan. Realizing that he was, and always had been, the king of rotations and unexpected upsets.

Having already tried the normal Rasengan on her while her blades were static, he didn't think it would work any better this time. He had to come up with something stronger. Something he had been working on before all this craziness had derailed his perfectly laid story.

"Kurama, mind giving me a hand with this?"

" **Hm? What are you-?"** But he suddenly realized he could _feel_ what Naruto was doing. It was a disturbing, but invigorating all the same. **"Ee, got it. Let's give it a try."** It might not have been a tailed beast bomb, but he doubted Satsuki would be happy with one of those going off within school grounds.

"Alright then, ready?"

" **Better be. Don't have much time."**

Indeed, though slower than her average, the worming drill was still speeding towards them frighteningly fast. Pushing this fact out of his mind and calming himself till his breathing was regulated like the ins and outs of the tide, he gathered his chakra into the palm of his hand like he would for a normal Rasengan. But as he was doing this, the Kyῡbi's nine tails encircled the sphere, focusing his own energy into the nexus.

He could feel it. They could feel it. It was as if the entire universe was being sucked into that black hole. And in a way, it was, as the Kyῡbi's newborn Life-Fibers branched out through the cosmos, creating connections on microscopic level and wrangling them into that artificial center.

" **Rasengan: Shōnetsu Jigoku!"***

The name Rasenshuriken had been in his mind at the formation of the technique. But as he became a conduit for it, the power itself changed the words in his mouth. All in all, he had to say it was more appropriate. It was like he was holding a furnace in the palm of his hand. He had once seen Tenten's family forge, and it was like a child's kitchen set compared to this.

There was a moment where he considered whether it was appropriate to use this in a friendly spar, but then he remembered all the times he had been an unprovoked punching bag and decided it was suitable payback. Besides, she was a big girl and could handle it. If not, well… she had Senketsu looking out for her.

It felt like his worries were for not when his fist impacted the tip of the drill. While it stopped the whirling death machine cold, it didn't plow through it like he was expecting. Of course, being a newcomer to the world of Life-Fibers, he had yet to appreciate just how strong they were.

Or their limitations.

The stalemate only lasted a few seconds until the careful stability being maintained by each of them came undone. The counter-rotating forces grinding on each other in either direction were perfectly balanced, at least until the drill made of Ryῡko and Senketsu began to slow. And then, like the last few rotations of a top, everything came undone all at once. Naruto and Kurama's hybrid Rasengan unraveled and exploded in their face with the heat of a thousands suns, and sent the two pairs flying.

"AAAAHHH!"

"RYŪKO!"

Fighting through the flames still licking at his face, Naruto was too hyped up on the knowledge that he screwed up yet again to feel any sort of pain. The fact that he was already healing and the injured woman would be as well didn't register as he dove after her.

Though in considerable pain himself, Kurama accelerated to his partner's wishes, letting the smoldering bits of his cloth tails be snuffed out in the rushing wind.

"Gotcha!"

Uncaring if he got yelled at later for it, he snagged Senketsu's suspenders and hauled her up into his arms just as the ground came rushing up to greet the both of them. The jets from Kurama's afterburners scorching deep ruts in the ground which instantly became glass and shattered as he touched down.

He had no concern for the blistered flesh on his arms and stomach where the Kyῡbi's cloth didn't reach. His eyes could only roam the cauterized lacerations littering both the girl and garment in his clutches.

"Ryῡko! Senketsu! Are you alright?!" He asked frantically, not registering the crowd which was rushing over to them.

There was no response from the soot-covered woman and Kamui for what could have passed for an eternity in his eyes. Then came a groan, and ever so slowly a single steel blue eye cracked open, followed by striped crimson and gold.

Then came a headbutt right into his nose. He dropped the two in his arms into an ungainly mess of flailing limbs and indignation.

"Oi! What was that for?!" He asked while pinching his nostrils to keep the blood from exciting the Kyῡbi (he had also learned through experience how to talk normally through a broken nose).

"What was it for?! You tried to barbeque me and Senketsu!"

"You were trying to screw me!"

"Don't pretend like you weren't trying to drill me too! And you didn't have to make things heat up so fast!"

"What did you expect?! I wasn't going to be satisfied pounding you into the ground all day long!"

"I'll show you a pounding-!"

"ENOUGH! I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS SORT OF CONVERSATION IN A SCHOOL SETTING!" Gamagōri interjected himself between the flabbergasted teens. "YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED! USING SUCH CRASS LANGUAGE IN FRONT OF A CHILD!" He held up a cheerful Mako by the scruff of her neck, who was happy just to be involved.

"Umm, isn't she like the same age as us-?"

"REGARDLESS!"

"Gamagōri."

Satsuki didn't even need to raise her voice or utter another word of command for the brute of a man to quit his browbeating and return to her side with his head bowed and hand over his chest. She looked at him for a second before turning back to the combatants.

"Quit acting like children. Make the sign of reconciliation and drop it already."

"Yes ma'am."

The response came in stereo as the two turned to the other with a quick but deep bow and hand poised inside a fist, before they broke from the hypnosis and looked at one another sheepishly.

"You both need to learn restraint."

Satsuki shot one more admonishment before turning to face the resulting damage, shaking her head dismally. Despite her feigned attitude, she was actually slightly impressed that they'd managed to keep it to a minimum.

"Hmm. Well, be that as it may, I think I still got some pretty good data out of it. Luckily, I still have Ryῡko's old stats to use as a baseline. So even if they weren't fighting all out, I can normalize the results using that assumption." Inumuta spouted some technical mumbo-jumbo that went over their heads, before muttering to himself the rest of the way back to his closet where he would shut himself in with a carafe of coffee and push more buttons.

Seeing that they were mostly off the hook for now, the two sparring partners turned to look at one another uncomfortably before they both broke out into hearty laughter which lasted a good while.

Both of them had to admit that they looked like shit, and it was so much better to be able to laugh about it than bite one another's heads off. Both Kurama and Senketsu let their partners have this moment of decanting, not wanting to spoil it for anything.

Even for the knowledge that Naruto's last attack had caused permanent but shallow damage on both Kamui. That talk could come later, after the stitches had been set.

While the other members of the Elite Four and Mako stopped what they were doing to rubberneck at the two hysterical teens, Satsuki quickly reminded them that they all had duties to attend to (as well as making some up on the spot to keep Mako occupied).

As the last one there besides the two and their partners, Satsuki shot her sister a knowing smirk before disappearing back into her castle. She was accompanied by her everlasting butler who furrowed his brow but did not stoop to question.

"I will deal with the damage to the school later. Something tells me this sort of destruction is going to become more frequent anyway." She answered him regardless of his silence.

"Yes ma'am, of course. Shall I let the contractors know to hold off?"

"Please do."

"And do we have an expected date when we shall need them back?"

Satsuki stopped in her stride to look back, past Soroi and to the two bearers of the burden whose name was heroism. They were laughing and having it on animatedly, as if they hadn't been at each other's throats just minutes before. As if, instead, it had all been one big joke or nightmare, and they had really been friends their entire lives.

"Everything heals in time, Soroi. Everything in time."

"Yes, ma'am, so it is."

* * *

 ***力 Chikara = Strength 九 Kyῡ = 9 刀 Tō or Dō = Blade . All very different for a Japanese speaker, but to us Gaijin they're all just squiggles anyway. Don't even try to tell me that some of the stuff you call 'calligraphy' is real and not some modern art joke. (Just kidding. I use humor to disguise my terrible attempt to learn).**

 ***Loosely translated meaning 'Hellfire' or 'inferno'. This is my neophyte attempt at inventing a Japanese name for something, so someone PLEASE tell me if I am doing it wrong.**

 **And I guess I should note this too, but to 'normalize' something mathematically or scientifically is to put it in a significant scale. In this case, if he knows a number for Ryῡko's strength, he puts that at 100%. Then, during the latest battle, the power output is at, say, 70%. He then takes Naruto's power and uses the ratio (70/100) to boost Naruto's numbers to get an estimate of what he could do going full out. It's not perfect, but it can be useful. But in this case, it's probably more like normalizing in Quantum, where you divide by infinity and things get weird….**


End file.
